Saint of Zero
by SatireSwift
Summary: The Gandalfr is the Shield of God, meant to protect their summoner from harm. Through faith and blade, here was a man that protected the weak from all that would do them harm, and his life ended with no regrets. Though Louise did not mean to summon a Guardian Knight, there were few greater she could have asked for.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was setting. From his view point on top of the walls of the city of Nicomedia, Georgius was given a sublime view of the city in the fading light. Shadows elongated from buildings and columns, casting a rather solemn tone over everything they touched. It was clear that with this day, things would be coming to an end.

His own life among them.

"And so, for the crime of Blasphemy against the gods and his own confession of belonging to the heretical cult known as Christianity, Tribune Georgius de Lydda is to be executed." The official orator stood a short distance away from him, speaking down toward the rather sizable crowd that had gathered for the event. "As per orders of Emperor Diocletian, this punishment shall be carried out in the manner befitting of all soldiers that commit treason: decapitation by soldier of fellow rank."

From his position on his knees, Georgius tried to turn his head to see which of his fellow Tribunes was to do the deed, but the manacles binding him as well as the massive pain from his wounds barely allowed him to twitch. The orator had left it unsaid that that such traitors were also tortured for several days before they were allowed to die. He had been subjected to beatings, lashings, branding with hot irons, even laceration on a wheel of swords. The final punishment was that he was dragged through the streets of Nicomedia to the top of the wall that would be his final destination. Needless to say, his body was a torn and bloody mess, so much so that some in the crowd below had trouble looking at him. Even if he was spared the sword, Georgius would most assuredly die of his wounds or infection not long after. All that was left was finishing the inevitable.

The sound of heavy boots came from the other side of him, and a hand came down to grip his jaw. Georgius found his head being painfully turned to view the armored form of Helous. _Ah, of course it would be you_, he thought as he looked up at the man he considered his friend. Fellow imperial guard of the emperor, Helous was among those that he truly trusted and respected.

The fellow Tribune looked at him with a mixture of emotions, regret and frustration most prominent among them. "Why?" he asked in a low tone. "Why did you have to do this? Diocletian offered you land, money, and slaves if you would just have followed his edicts. He pleaded with you to do so. I pleaded with you to do so!" His friend all but shouted. "So why?! Why have you chosen death?!"

Georgius made several strangled noises from his ruined throat before he managed to croak out the words "Because… it wasn't right. Diocletian can't… punish Christians for th-their faith." He let of a wheeze that might have been a laugh. "And I w-will not sacrifice to gods that… I do not believe in."

Helous's mouth twisted at that. "Is it truly worth it? This God and Savior of yours? Do you truly think that it is worth your life?"

Georgius managed to rasp back "…yes."

The other Tribune's shoulders slumped in defeat, and his grip on the doomed man's jaw released, causing it to hang back down. "May you find respite from this madness in Elysium, my friend." He said as the ringing of steel being drawn from a scabbard caused the crowd below to go quiet. "Is there anything else you would ask of this man before he sends you to your final rest?"

The was a pause before Georgius replied "Do you have it? That which I asked of you to get?"

There was another pause. Helous knew what of what Georgius spoke, as he had been asked by the other man to retrieve it for him a few days prior. "Yes. Why?"

"I would like it with me for when I met my Lord."

There was a heavy sigh. "For you, I shall do this." There was some rustling and a moment later something was place over his head and around his neck. It was a simple leather cord, upon the end of which was a simple wooden cross with the bottom line longer than the others. It was in the shape of a crucifix, to be precise. Georgius had found it somewhat interesting that those of his faith had adopted the thing which had killed their savior as their symbol, though it was becoming more widespread in recent years. This one in particular was important to him as it was made by a young woman and given to him as a present.

Looking at the small piece of wood dangling from his neck, his mind thought back to the day he met her. A beautiful woman, standing on the edge of a lake. Her bridle gown following around her in the breeze. Her words telling him to leave while her eyes begged him to save her.

A feeling of peace came to him. _Thank you Sadra_, he prayed.

"Are you ready?" Helous asked.

"I am."

Georgius watched the shadow of the blade move as his friend raised it above his head. "Forgive me." Helous said, and the blade came swinging down.

In that instant, Georgius gave a small smile and said "Always."

* * *

The sun was setting. From her position at her desk, Louise Françoise de la Vallière could see the shadows being cast by the various books stacked on her desk getting longer. In a way, it reminded her of a sundial.

Namely in the way how it made her realize that time was running out.

The young pink haired woman turned and glared at the sight of the setting sun through the glass balcony doors of her room, as if she could will it to halt it's progress with shear force of will alone. She needed more time, Founder damn it. The Springtime Summoning Ritual was tomorrow and she needed to be ready. The rules of the Tristain Academy of Magic were very clear on this point. All second year students are to summon their familiar at the ritual, the animal or magical beast that would reflect the mage's power and be their life long companion. Failure to do so would result in expulsion. Louise had been studying the ritual intensely in hopes of getting it right.

It wasn't that she was clumsy or forgetful. In fact, when it came to study and academic work, there were few other students that could best her. She knew all the magic formula by heart, memorized dozens of spells and their potential uses and knew process by which new spells could be studied and created. Ostensibly, she should be the most skilled mage at the Academy. There was only one problem.

Louise had never once cast a spell successfully. They all just sort of exploded.

The 17 year old shook her head, trying to rid herself of such thoughts. _I will summon my familiar tomorrow_, she though instantly. _It will be a grand and powerful familiar, like a dragon, or a manticore_.

She decided to take a small break for the moment, and walked out through the balcony doors near her bed to get a better view of the setting sun and the Academy. Whatever her… issues with magic might be, the Vallière family was very powerful and influential in the country of Tristain, and thus Louise was granted a room much nicer than most students. Her balcony was about 3 stories up, and gave her a good view of the other towers. The tower she was in along with four more made up a pentagram that was joined by the outer walls, all surrounding the larger central tower.

Looking on as the towers stood tall against the fading light, Louise felt an odd pang of loneliness. She wished her sister Cattleya were her. She always knew how to cheer Louise up when she was down. Of course, if she failed tomorrow, she would end up seeing a lot more of her when she had to go home. As well as her mother…

A shiver ran up the mage's spine and she forced the thought of how her mother would react if she failed out of her mind as hard as she could. Her mother would not tolerate such weakness from her. So she would succeed. That was all there was to it.

A knock on her bedroom door took her out of her thoughts, as did the voice that accompanied it. "Housekeeping, milady."

"Yes, yes, come in." At the young noble's response, the door opened and a maid not much older than Louise entered the room, dressed in the typical black and white dress of her profession. Her short black hair marked her of common stock, and as such Louise paid her no mind as she set about the room doing her duties. She most certainly did not feel mild irritation when the maid took the liberty of lighting the lamps in her room. It wasn't like it was a painful reminder that most mages could do it themselves with the slightest bit of effort.

Lousie set about dutifully ignoring her and returned to her studies. In fact, she would not have said one more word to the other woman if not a small bit of clumsiness. The maid had bent down to pick up some laundry on the floor, but when she rose she was near the knobs for the dresser. She passed a little too close to it and something on her neck caught before there was a soft snapping noise. "Ahh!" the maid exclaimed with dismay. "Oh drat! I'll have to get another cord."

Louise turned around from her desk, not really wanting to go over the details of the summoning ritual for what must have been the fiftieth time that night. She was greeted by the sight of the maid looking between her laundry laden arms and a spot on the floor. "And just what are you standing around for?" She asked, some of the irritation from before leaking into her voice.

"Ahh!" The maid said in surprise as she looked at the noble, now clearly nervous to be under the other woman's gaze. "I-I'm sorry milady. It's just t-that…" She looked down at the floor again. "The cord on my pendant broke, and I can't…"

Louise looked at her for a moment longer before giving a sigh and standing up, walking over to the spot the maid was looking at. It was beneath her to do so, but her mother had advised that it was wise to be magnanimous to the common people when it cost you very little to do so. She reached down and picked the item off the floor and looked at it in mild confusion. "This is a pendant? It's barely even a piece of driftwood." The object in question, at the end of a broken leather cord, was a piece of very old wood. It was in the shape of a cross, though the bottom prong was longer than the other 3. Louise could also tell that there was a slight reddish hue on some of it, though what it was she could not say. "I must say, I would have though even commoners could afford something of better craft than this."

The maid looked somewhat embarrassed by this statement, but still said "It was a gift from my grandfather. It was something he had gotten back in his homeland, and said that it had to do with his religion. I-I've always considered it something of a good luck charm."

Louise frowned at this. "Well, this certainly doesn't look like anything out of Founderism." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you saying that your grandfather was a heathen?"

"Oh no no no!" The maid insisted, her voice now fearful. "He believed in God! In fact, he was one of the few in his home country that did! It's just that it was a little… different."

"What nonsense is that? Founderism is Founderism."

"Yes, but-"

"Enough." Louise said firmly as she put the piece of wood on top of the cloths the other woman was carrying. "I don't need to hear anymore of your grandfather's mistaken beliefs. I have wasted enough of my time talking to you already. Leave me, for I have studying to do."

The maid nervously nodded and quickly scurried out of the room, leaving the mage to her studies, wondering just how long she would have to study before she felt confident about tomorrows summoning.

* * *

The answer was all night. Well, not exactly. That would implied that she felt at all good about things, and given how the following morning she was exhausted and pushing around her breakfast without eating it, Louise could definitely say that was not the case.

"Well, aren't you looking grumpy this morning?" A voice sing-songed from her left. "Then again, I wouldn't be happy if I were you either."

Louise's head whipped to the side, her exhaustion being replace with a rather familiar sense of irritation. "And just what do you mean by that, Zerbst?"

Kirche Augusta von Zerbst flipped back her long red hair as she stared down at Louise with a smirk. "Oh? Well, I would imagine that today is your last day here. After all, you have to summon a familiar to remain in this school, and no one expects Louise the Zero to manage a successful spell now of all times."

The pinkette's fists clenched as she stared back at the other woman in anger. Oh, how she hated Kirche! And how she _hated_ that stupid nickname! "For your information, I will be summoning a familiar today, Zebrst! And it will be a much better one than anything you could summon. So stop looking down at me!"

The much taller woman gave a small laugh. "That will be somewhat difficult seeing as how you're still rather… underdeveloped." Kirche folded her arms under her rather impressive chest. "In more ways than one I should think. Is it any wonder why men from this country keep coming to me?"

Louise's indignation grew at that statement. Kirche wasn't just talking about her own physic (which did not matter in the slightest. Who cares if she had tan skin, wide hips and giant breasts? Louise just hadn't hit her growth spurt yet, damn it!), but of the rivalry that existed between their two families. The fact that the Germanian Zerbsts had once stolen a Vallière groom to be was a particular point of contention.

The pink haired mage was about to launch into a tirade about the wanton woman's lack of morals and lavasiousness when she was interrupted by a soft voice. "Breakfast."

Louise blinked and turned her attention to the girl that always seemed to be perpetually at the red head's side. Tabitha, like Kirche and Louise, was also a second year at the Academy, and she had short blue hair along with a frame that was not much bigger that Louise's. It always seemed odd that those two were friends. Kirche was loud, attention grabbing, and prone to being rather flighty at times. Tabitha on the other hand was so quite and introverted that Louise hadn't even noticed her. Founder, the blue haired girl hadn't even bothered to look up from her book!

Kirche looked at the bluette for a moment before giving a sigh. "I suppose you're right. Today is not a day to skip a meal." She turned back to Louise. "It looks like well have to cut this short, but don't worry," she said with a smirk. "I'm sure that the summoning will be… explosively successful." The woman tittered as she and her companion wandered off to find their own seats in the dinning hall.

Louise clenched her teeth and took deep breaths, resisting the urge to show the infuriating woman just how 'explosive' things could get. Thankfully, her noble training kept her from having such a vulgar outburst, and she managed to calm down, though her mood had become even worse.

"U-umm, Milady? Could I-"

"Not! Now!" Lousie yelled as she spun on whoever was trying to speak to her. She guessed she hadn't calmed down as much as she thought.

The mage was somewhat surprised to find herself facing the maid she had spoken to last night, though she wasn't for long. "Eep!" The maid exclaimed at Louise's reaction. "N-never mind!" With that, the dark haired woman scurried away.

Louise stared after her for a moment, feeling somewhat confused. _What was that about? Did she look distressed about something?_ She pondered this for a moment longer before she remembered that she had more important things on her mind.

* * *

Before she knew it, Louise found herself in one of the courtyards of the Academy with the rest of the second year students, standing in front of a summoning circle. The teacher overseeing the group was one Professor Colbert, a somewhat absentminded man, both balding and bespectacled. Every bit of his tall frame seemed to be made for academia.

"Is everyone here?" he asked, looking over the assorted adolescents. "Good. We shall now conduct the Springtime Summoning Ritual. Each of you shall in turn summon your familiar, and then proceed to cast the Contract Familiar spell on them."

"Uh, what if we don't like the one we summoned?" asked a boy in the back of the crowd. "Could we try again?"

"Absolutely not." Colbert replied firmly, adjusting his glasses as he did so. "Summoning a familiar is a sacred right that one does not simply do over. Beside, the familiar you summon will reflect your elemental alignment, as well as being suited to you personally."

"So, what creature is most like an explosion?" Kirche asked as she shot a smug glance over at Louise. The rest of the teens present snickered at this, as pretty much everyone at the Academy was aware of her problems with magic. Louise kept silent, her fists clenched and her head bowed with frustration.

Colbert quickly reigned the group in and the summonings were underway. There was a rather large number of different creatures summoned. Many students summoned normal animals such as frogs, owls and snakes. The more promising students managed to summon magical beasts to be their companions, like the boy that summoned a bugbear (although why a weird floating eyeball was called a bugbear eluded her), or some foppish blond who summoned a giant mole, or Kirche who had managed to summon a fire salamander.

Tabitha summoned a young dragon. An actual dragon! Granted, Louise had a hard time getting truly mad about it as the blue haired girl was probably one of the most skilled mages in their group (at both theoretical and practical work), but still!

Finally, after everyone else had finished it was her turn. Louise put on a face of confidence and moved up to the circle. She tried to ignore how a lot of the students started to nervously back up in response, expecting the inevitable blast. As she stood at the edge of the summoning circle, she pulled the clasp of her cloak away from her neck a little, trying to get some more air.

She was surprised when she noticed something small tumble out of the folds of her cloak and land on the ground. Distracted, she bent down and picked it up, and was even more surprised to find that it was that driftwood pendant that the maid had dropped last night. _What? How did that get there?_ Then she thought back to breakfast when the maid had looked upset and was trying to talk to her. _Did she honestly lose it while washing my clothes? What a clumsy maid._ Looking at the lopsided cross shape, Louise remembered that the other woman had said that she considered the pendent a good luck charm.

As she was wondering whether or not holding the thing for luck counted as heresy, Professor Colbert gently nudged the young woman with his staff. "Louise, the summoning ritual?"

Louise gave a start. "Y-yes professor!" she said, taking one last glance at the pendant before closing it in her left fist. _Who am I kidding?_ She thought to herself. _I'll take any chance I can get, not matter how unlikely._ The mage pulled out her wand with her right hand.

She would not fail.

She could not fail.

And so, Louise Françoise de la Vallière began to chant.

* * *

How long had it been since he had come to this place? It was hard to say. At least a millennia or two, he should think. This realm, this Throne of Heroes, was removed from the world he once knew, so much that time had no real meaning there. His only real connection to that world was the few rare times that he could hear the calls of those who needed him, and he sent his wisdom and guidance to them in response.

That is why his soul had come here, he supposed. All of the heroes of mankind were gathered in this realm, to be called upon if needed once again. But what was sent forth were merely images, hollow echoes of what they were so that a task could be fulfilled. There was an exception though. Someone had made a ritual, a grand battle into which heroes would truly be summoned to do battle for a single wish. This Holy Grail War (a name which he found distasteful for a number of reasons) was known to all heroes in the Throne, and many eagerly awaited their chance to be summoned, to fix something which they had not been able to in life.

It was hard to say how he felt about it. He could not say that he particularly cared for combat, but whenever the time came for 'Servants' as they were called to be summoned, he would always feel anticipation. And when he wasn't chosen, he would feel a little disappointed. It was particularly upsetting when he was sure to be summoned the last time it happened, but the hero Achilles was picked instead. The thing was, he wasn't even sure why he felt the way he did. What would he wish for if he had the chance?

Well, he knew, but was certain it would not be allowed. All he wanted was to be allowed his final rest, to join his Lord God and Savoir in heaven. Perhaps the Throne knew this, and thus would not send him. Such as it, the fact that he could still help people, if only rarely and indirectly, was the only thing that made the sort of half sleep that had become his existence bearable.

_I beg of you…_

His musing ended when he heard a voice calling out to him. Ah, it seemed there was another that needed his aid.

_My servant that exists somewhere in this universe…_

He felt mild surprise. That was different. Most usually invoke his name to ask for guidance, but this sounded more like…

A summoning.

_My divine, beautiful, and powerful servant…_

There was no mistaking it now, the voice was growing stronger. It was young, female, and filled with desperate need. He did not know how, but this person was trying to summon him fully. He did not feel the touch of the Grail in this call, just a simple connection, and a resonance with something within himself.

_I wish and desire from the bottom of my heart…_

The moment of shock passed. Questions of how and why were irrelevant. This person was calling to him. She needed his help.

He would do as he had always done.

_Heed my call and answer my guidance!_

He reached forth.

* * *

Ostensibly, nothing happened.

The crowd behind the pink haired girl relaxed when there was no massive explosion. It was somewhat surprising actually, as before anytime the girl had ever tried to cast a spell, a concussive blast would result. This time though, there was nothing, and the girl was left pointing her wand at the circle.

"Ha!" someone from the crowd jeered. "So Louise the Zero couldn't even make an explosion this time? That's even more pathetic than usual!" Many of the students present began laughing at her, but she still did not move.

Professor Colbert told them to be silent before looking back at Louise with concern. He did not want to have to fail the young woman, and not just because of the political disfavor that it would court with her family. She always tried so hard, studying more than anyone else in her class to just cast one spell right. He could tell that there was nothing wrong in her technique, but he decided to bend the rules a little to give her another chance. "Louise? Perhaps there was just a minor error somewhere. I suggest that you try again."

Still she did not respond, but her entire body spoke of tension. Sweat dripped down her brow, her teeth were clenched, and her knuckles white.

"Louise?" Colbert said again, his concern rising.

In truth, she could not hear him, or the mocking calls of the students behind her. She wasn't paying attention to anything other than the circle, because she _felt_ it. There was something on the edge of her perception, something which was reaching out to her in kind, but wasn't quite getting through.

_No!_ She mentally screamed as she poured every last bit of her willpower into the circle. _I will summon a familiar! I! Will! Not! Fail!_

Then the circle began to glow a faint red. As Louise keep pushing with her will, the glow increased in intensity, the students behind her gasping in surprise at the sight. In an instant the light expanded inwards, tracing more designs and symbols within the center of the 2 meter circle beyond the Runic lettering that lined the edge. The resulting sigil was dense and incomprehensible to her, but she did not care. She could feel her summon getting closer. She had to push a little more…

With a final strangled cry from Louise, several things happened at once. The magical light orbs around courtyard all cracked and shattered. Gouts of earth tore themselves out of the ground, and wind pushed inwards to the circle. And of course, there was an explosion.

A number of people were knocked back, but Louise stood firm. She panted heavily from the effort she had just put forth, and peered into the smoke, hoping against hope that thing she had felt would be standing there when it cleared. When the cloud was blown away from a small gust of wind though, she almost took a step back at what she saw.

_I summoned a… man?_

The man in question stood tall in the center of the circle, of average height and long brown hair that cascaded down to mid back. He was dressed in armor as a solider, but the design was not one that Louise recognized. It was the color of bronze, and had intricate designs etched into metal. A number of plates ran down his arms ending in gauntlets, and his breastplate was partially covered by a strip of white cloth. The cloth extended downwards and joined with a sort of white robe that covered his legs, though it still showed that his boots were in the shape of a dragon's feet. Finally he wore a white cape that extended down to his ankles, the article still billowing somewhat from the wind.

Louise stared at him with an open mouth gape. She briefly wondered in horror if she had summoned a commoner, but she pushed that thought out of her mind quickly. No common solider would be given such elegant (if somewhat simple) attire. This was clearly someone of at least moderate importance. This thought was also reinforced by his bearing. As he locked eyes with Louise, she could feel the intensity of his gaze as he looked at her.

No one spoke. With the sheer unexpectedness of the man presence, no one knew what to say. Eventually, the man's gaze softened somewhat, and he said "_Upon your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of you, why have you called me?_"

Louise blinked in surprise, as the man had not spoken in Tristianian, but rather in Ancient Romalian. She did not know why he had addressed her in a dead language, but she had fortunately had the language drilled into her head when she was young by instructors, as it had close ties to the origins of the Runic language.

Feeling that it would be improper somehow if she switched to a more modern tounge, she replied in kind. "_I-I have summoned you to be m-my familiar._" She cursed herself for stuttering, but she couldn't help it. She had put all of her willpower into summoning him, and as such was barely conscious. This might not be what she wanted, but she was in no state to try again even if she could.

The man looked surprised at this, and once again looked into Louise's eyes, as if searching for answers in her soul. Part of her was annoyed by his silence and felt that she should just bind him already, but she found that her body could not move. It was probably just the exhaustion. She most certainly did not care what this man thought about it.

After some of the longest moments of Louise's life, the man smiled. It was a warm, heartfelt thing which filled her with an odd sense of relief. "_Very well,_" he said as he went down on one knee. "_For this life you have given me, barring acts of immorality or blasphemy, I shall be bound to your service till you see fit to release me._"

Again, part of her wanted to argue that he would do everything she told him to, but she couldn't exactly begrudge him for refusing to act if she gave him orders that went against God. She let out a breath that she didn't know she was keeping. It was over. She had done it.

"Um, Louise?" She turned to see Professor Colbert looking between her and the man, curiosity clear in his eyes. "You still need to bind your… familiar."

She blinked, and a moment later her face blushed deeply as she realized what that would entail. All the other students had to do it to animals, but she… She shook her head. She had come this far, and it would be unforgivable if she failed now because she didn't want to do something embarrassing. She turned back to the man and brought her wand to bear again. Pushing the very last sliver of power she had left, she chanted "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar." With that's she leaned in and gave the man a kiss on the lips.

It worked. She felt the last bit of her power leave her and a light began to emanate from the man's left hand. She could not make out anything more than that however, and the toll of using so much magic caught up with her. With a small smile on her lips at her first success, she fell, consciousness leaving her before she even felt the man catch her from her fall.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, so I felt like doing a FoZ fic where Louise summons someone other than the annoyance that is Saito, just like pretty much everyone else. So sue me.

If you've read my profile, you know that I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I've both wanted to try my hand at both FoZ and writing a story with Heroic Spirit Saint George, and this seemed like a good opportunity to do both. For those of you who don't know, George was going to be Servant Rider in the Fate/Apocrypha project that was cancelled. When the project was remade into light novels, George was one of the ones that got cut, which seems a shame because he was one of the more developed Servants. You can find his stats on the Typemoon wiki, which I will in general be following.

However, it's very important to note that he is not a Servant in this story. Louise did not use the Grail System to summon him, and was instead brought forth with a combination of Nasuverse and Halkeginian magic. The short version is that he is human, not a Servant. By Nasuverse terms of 'older is better' he's still stronger than a normal human, but not to such a horrendous degree. Also, he will not have his Noble Phantasms to start with. He'll be getting those back over the course of the story as Louise gets stronger and able to provide him with more power. That will hopefully keep him from plowing through the plot.

On a side note, I will be indulging myself for the next couple of weeks, mostly by making 1st chapters of some of the story ideas on my profile, partly because I want to see how they track with you guys. Also I will be finishing Playing With Tropes, though it will be in an abridge form. I know that my first entry into fanfiction has its flaws, but I feel obliged to give the character I created at least some form of ending.

Till next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Siesta fretted as she walked to the infirmary. The last time she had tried to talk to the Lady Françoise about her missing pendant, she had been yelled at. Granted, the noble had seemed rather distracted at the moment, so it was likely a matter of bad timing. Still, Siesta was always nervous when it came to the nobility. If a Lord or Lady wanted to, say, beat one of the common folk, there wasn't much that said commoner could do about it. Of course, they would have to come up with a reason and there were limits to what they could do, but it was safe to say that a commoner's fate was typically in the hands of those that ruled them.

If it were any other piece of jewelry or item the maid would have written it off as a loss, but this was the pendant that her grandfather had given her before he died. He never went into much detail about his religion, but she knew that he would always clutch it tight and frown when he heard sermons of Founderism. When she had asked him about it, all he would say was "God loves us all, not just those with magic." His displeasure with the disparity between those with magic and those without was something that Siesta shared, and was likely the reason he had given it to her before he passed.

And so, when she had heard that the Lady Francois had passed out during the summoning ritual, she had volunteered to be one to check in on her. After all, if she was doing her duty taking her laundry and she happened to find her lost pendant among them, who would argue with her? The Lady had already remarked on her distaste for the item, and while she did seem a little high strung, Siesta doubted that the young noble was so needlessly cruel to try to claim it as her own.

However, the maid had this plan in mind under the assumption that the Lady would be alone and asleep, and upon opening the door to the infirmary, she found that this was not the case. She found that there was a man sitting beside the lady's bedside, a soldier by the look of it. He wore brass colored armor and white cloth and had an equally white cape draped over his back. Rather notable was the fact that his brown hair reached down to mid back, somewhat longer than most military men would consider fashionable.

The man turned to look as Siesta as she walked into the room, his posture straightening as he looked at her. Siesta stiffed an 'eep', as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. Now this his torso turned to her, she could see that the armor was somewhat more ornate than she thought. Not only that, the man had a sort of... bearing about him. A certainness of presence about him that she had only seen on those who were in charge. It was clear to Siesta that the man in front of her was a noble as well.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude." She said. "I-I'm here to see to the lady's needs."

The man gave a small frown and tilted his head. When he responded, he did so in a language that the maid did not understand. _Was that... Romalian?_ She thought in confusion. When it was clear that she did not understand what he had said, he spoke again, this time in a language that sounded somewhat closer to Tristainian, but still incomprehensible to her. _He must be some kind of foreign dignitary,_ she thought.

Still, if he was, he should at least know the language of the country he was in. Siesta did not know what business he might have with the Lady, but considering the circumstances she was in no position to ask. Such as it was, she was left in a somewhat awkward position. She still had to do her job (and look for her pendant), but the man did not seem to understand why she was there. She would have thought that her uniform would give her purpose away, but perhaps servants were dressed differently where he was from? Considering how he did not seem to know Tristainian, this reinforced the idea that he was from some distant land.

The next minute or so was filled with awkward gestures and pantomimes, but the maid eventually got her point across. It was not as painful as she might have thought, as the man was surprisingly patient for a Lord, showing no frustration or irritation at her attempts to communicate. When all was said and done, he moved out of her way and she got to work. Another member of the staff had changed the Lady into a gown and her clothes were put into a small pile on nearby table. Siesta took a brief moment to search them and to her dismay found that her pendant was not there. She would have preferred to do a more thorough search, but with the Lord present, she did not want to look suspicious by rooting through the other woman's clothes, especially when she would not be able to explain herself. So she set about her other duties, changing the water in the basin, making changing the beds not in use, and so on.

When she had finished, she returned to the Lady Francois's and gave a small frown. She could still try asking her about it later, but that was not a conversation she was looking forward to. She gave a small start when she realized that the Lord was looking at her curiously. "Oh! I was, uh, just thinking that she needed another pillow!" she said and she turned to snatch another one from an adjacent bed. When she turned back she paused, both in uncertainty about having to move the Lady to put said pillow under her head, as well as in mild embarrassment that she had bothered to say such a thing to someone who could not understand her.

However, the Lord understood and Siesta briefly blinked in surprise as he helpfully pulled the Lady into a half sitting position so that she could do as she intended. She placed the pillow down and he laid the other woman back down careful. He then paused, his eyes focusing on something. Following his gaze, Siesta found that he was looking at the Lady's left hand, which was closed into a tight fist. The Lord carefully pried it open, and both were surprised to see Siesta's pendant pressed into her palm.

The maid felt both relief and dismay at this. The first because she now knew for certain that she had not simply dropped it somewhere, and the second at the way they man reverently took it from the Lady's hand. Why would he be so amazed by it? It was just a piece of wood to him. It only held any meaning to Siesta herself. Still, with the way he was staring at it, it didn't look like he wanted to part with it any time soon.

But it was her grandfather's pendant. She had to try. "Umm, my Lord?" she asked nervously, the man's attention turning to her. "I-I don't mean to be rude, but that is mine." She said, pointing at the object in his hand.

He of course did not understand, and merely frowned slightly. Still, the maid continued on. "I mean, I know you can't really understand me, but that belong to my grandfather and... he gave to me when he died, and it would mean a lot to me is you gave it back, and..." she rambled on like this for a while, frequently gesturing in order to get her meaning across. While the Lord was just as patient as before, it seemed he was not able to understand her this time, as the subject was somewhat more complex. She became increasingly frustrated, particularly when his expression changed and she thought she had gotten through to him. He blinked and looked down at the cross he held, and then his fist closed around it, his head still cast down as if in thought.

Siesta felt tears well up behind her eyes, but she held them back. She simply did not know what to do. She could not just take it from him, and she could not make him understand. Eventually, in defeat, she stuttered out "I-I am sorry for b-bothering you." before she swiftly moved to the door. However, as her hand wrapped around the handle she felt a hand firmly grip her shoulder. She tensed and slowly turned around, finding that the man had stopped her, but she was uncertain as to why.

There was a moment's pause between the two of them before he gave her one of the warmest smiles she had ever seen. Siesta blushed at this, suddenly becoming rather acutely aware of the man's strong features. The Lord then took her hand and pressed the pendant into her palm, still smiling as he did so. She blinked in surprise, looking back between her hand and the Lord several times. "You... you're..." she said in disbelief before a happy smile of her own broke out on her face. "Th-thank you, my Lord!" The fact that the pendant was her's to begin with was lost to her at the moment, as she felt so happy that he was giving it to her even though he seemed to want it himself.

After a few more thanks, she left in infirmary in higher spirits than when she entered.

* * *

Jean Colbert moved out of the way of a rather happy looking maid as he made his way to the infirmary. He had been meaning to check on Louise much sooner, but he had been quickly sidetracked by other things soon after she had passed out. As the servants had carried her off, one of the junior teachers had run up to him in a panic, yelling about how half of the magical items in the academy had broken or stopped working.

At first the professor had thought that the man was exaggerating, but had found to his great alarm that it was not the case. In addition to the shattered Mage Lights in the courtyard, most small things around the academy imbued with magic (some books with preservation spells, some avliss, even some novelty baubles which did nothing but spin around and emit light in an amusing fashion) had all become inert. He had at first wondered if there had been some kind of disruptive event (Louise's particularly interesting summon came to mind), but he then learned to his even greater alarm that many of the more powerful enchantments throughout the academy had become weaker as well.

Even though it was all speculation at this point, the worst that should have happened if there was some kind of disruptive magical force (which was unheard of) was that the item would be disenchanted or there should have been a small fluctuation before it returned to normal. However, this didn't seem like a disruption so much as the magic was… drained. He had no idea where it could have gone or what had caused it, but such investigation would have to take place later. He had already informed headmaster Osmund of the situation and both agreed that getting all of the academy wards back to full strength took top priority. It would not do for someone to learn that the defenses were weakened, both for the sake of the students and for the many valuable items stored away within the central tower vault.

He pushed such thoughts aside as he opened the door to the infirmary, and was greeted with the sight of Louise still asleep in her bed with the man she summoned standing next to her. Now this was something that had been teasing at Jean's brain ever since the summoning. As far as he knew, there had never been a human familiar before, though something about that seemed wrong and tugged at his memory. Whatever the case, the man himself also stuck the professor as odd. The man was clearly a soldier, one of respectable rank judging by the way he carried himself, though his attire was not of any nation he recognized. The fact that he had spoken in Ancient Romalian was also of particular interest. Only scholars knew that dead language with any proficiency, so why a soldier could speak it was a mystery.

The man turned to face the professor. It was hard to see, but he tensed slightly upon the sight of Jean before relaxing his body after a moment. Normally this would have been brushed off, but Jean knew that he had done so in response to his own subtle posture change when he had seen the soldier in the room.

He had not always been a teacher after all.

Jean held the man's gaze, as if trying to find answers through his eyes. No one else present at the summoning had thought anything of the summoned man, dismissing him as an oddity or more proof of Louise's ineptitude at magic. Well, except for the dragon that Tabitha had summoned, of all things. Jean had noticed that it had tried to hide behind the blue haired girl upon seeing the man, a rather comical sight considering the difference in size. If he did not know better, he would have said that the dragon was afraid of him, but that was preposterous. After a moment, he finally said "I'm sorry to intrude, but I am checking on the welfare of my student. I would also like to speak to you if that is alright."

The soldier gave a small frown and replied in Ancient Romalian "_I am sorry, but I do not understand you._"

_So he does not know Tristainian at all,_ Jean thought to himself before replying in kind "_It is most strange that you would choose such an old language to speak in considering your occupation. You are lucky that I am rather versed in the language myself as I spend much of my time researching. Tell me, why do you know it?_"

"_It is the language of my homeland._" He replied simply. "_I am afraid while I am well traveled, I am not familiar with this land or its tongue. It bears a passing resemblance to the language spoken by those of Gaul, but it is such a different dialect that I believe that I will have to spend some time acquainting myself with it._"

Jean frowned at this and was about to ask him more before he realized his oversight. "_Ah, do forgive me for being rude, I have not yet introduced myself._" He gave a slight bow of his head. "_I am Professor Jean Colbert of the Tristain Academy of Magic._"

The man bowed his head in kind. "_I am Tribune Georgius de Lydda, formally of the Praetorian Guard to the Emperor of Rome._"

Jean could tell from the man's inflection that Tribune was not his first name, but rather his rank, although he had never heard of it before. "_I am afraid that I am not familiar with that rank. As well, when you say Rome, do mean Romalia?_"

Georgius blinked in surprise before giving a sigh. "_That is indeed possible. It has been quite some time since I have been to that land, and it is likely that the name has changed since then._"

Jen frowned at this. "_To my knowledge Romalia has been named as such for the past 6 thousand years, ever since the Papacy was established._"

"_Then I am afraid that I do not know where I am._" The man replied before he muttered. "_Or it has been even longer than I thought._"

Jean paused in confusion for a moment before shaking his head. Georgius was most likely from a group of people that had splintered off from Romalia sometime in the past, and had traveled a distance to forge their own nation, likely a great distance away. The only other option was that he was from the very distant past, but that was both ridiculous and did not add up. "_I shall see that you get a look at some of our maps at some point to determine where your homeland is. In the meantime, I have some concerns. Namely the fact you are a soldier of a foreign nation. That could cause… complications if you are now in the service of Miss Françoise as you claim._"

Georgius held up a placating hand. "_It will not be an issue for a number of reasons, first and foremost that I am no long a part of the Roman military. I was…_" he paused, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. "_I must ask, in this… academy of magic, is it common that Heroic Spirits are summoned?_"

"_Heroic Spirit? What is that?_" Jean asked. "_There have never been any cases of a mage summoning a spirit as a familiar. Animals and magical beasts are the sort of creature which the summoning ritual brings forth. In fact, as far as I know you are the first human being to become one. Now, why do you ask?_"

"_It is nothing,_" he said quickly. "_Suffice to say, I hold no allegiance to the Roman Empire._" He turned to look at the sleeping girl and changed the subject. "_Now, do you know how long till my master recovers?_"

Jean stepped forward to stand next to the bed. "_Not much longer I should thing. She is suffering from a minor case of Willpower Depletion. It is not uncommon among learning students who push themselves too hard._"

Georgius did not look at him but said "_I must say, I have never seen such a large institution for the practice of magic. Most practitioners that I have seen are solitary, or prefer a master-apprentice sort of relationship._"

"_Really?_" Jean asked with no small amount of interest, the scholarly part of him taking over. "_There is no societal involvement in the teaching of magic? That would mean technique would likely be kept within lines of teaching, and that would vastly change the structure of society as a whole. Tell me, how is your government structured? Is there a royal line or does the noble family with the strongest techniques holds the position of power? Are there families dedicated to-_"

The soldier held up a hand to forestall the professor's questions. "_Perhaps another time. For now, if there is nothing else for you to do I would like to be alone with my thoughts for a while. This is all very new to me._"

Jean mentally berated himself. Georgius had been suddenly taken away from his homeland and had no idea where he was or how to even speak the native language. He would at the very least need some time to adjust. "_Of course, I apologize. I look forward to speaking with you later._"

He made to leave when he was stopped by the other man. "_Wait. If I may ask a question before you go?_"

"_Yes, of course, what is it?_"

"_What is the state of Christianity? Are men and women free to worship God and our savoir Jesus Christ?_"

Jean tilted his head. "_Again, I am not sure what you mean. Of course all are free to worship God, but I have not heard of this Christianity or Jesus Christ._"

A mixture of emotions crossed Georgius's face, a combination of surprise, relief and… sadness? "_Thank you._" The man said. "_That is all I need to know for now._"

* * *

Georgius sat still in the chair by his master's bedside for sometime after the professor left, thinking about the situation he had found himself in. He had been summoned, fully and completely, to be mage's familiar of all things. He did not think he was just a pale copy sent from the Throne as usual, but than again, how could he tell? He had an ego, but such was also the case of those sent to participate in the Grail War, so it was possible that he was simply a better copy.

He looked down at his hand and flexed it, feeling the muscles and tendons clench and relax. There was one thing he was certain of though; he was alive. This was no mere construct body that would fade away if not given enough magic, but rather flesh and blood. To be honest, it made him somewhat uncomfortable. Resurrection was one of the greatest miracles Christ preformed, and it seemed that the same had been bestowed upon himself. By teenage girl, completely unintentionally if he understood the situation correctly. Either the art of magic had advanced far beyond what he thought possible, or…

There was something very special about this girl.

He looked at the sleeping form of his master, wondering just how he could address his martyrdom. It was clear that his legend was either not known in these parts or had been forgotten entirely. If the summoning of Heroic Spirits was in fact not something had happened in this land before, then they would probably not believe him if he told them of just how he left the employ of the Roman Empire. And perhaps accuse him of blasphemy, depending on how they viewed such things.

The soldier's frown deepened. The religion of the people of this Tristain was another thing that concerned him. God was known and worshiped, but there was no knowledge of Christ? Were these people like those originally chosen of God? Whatever the case, he would have to investigate further to see how closely it resembled his own Christianity (or Judaism if his guess was correct). If necessary, he would spread the word of Christ as he once had when he traveled the world.

As he thought about his travels, he remembered one of the more prominent ones, and the token he had received from it. He had been rather surprised to see that crucifix again, though it did explain why he specifically was summoned. What was more surprising was that dark haired servant's attachment to it. He did not understand what she had said, but she had a clear emotional connection with the item, and seemed rather distraught when she seemed to think she would not get it.

In truth, he wasn't entirely sure why he gave it to her. It was one of the few possessions he had that held any true value to him, and as he had only been summoned with his armor, that should make it all the more precious to him. But still, he couldn't help but feel that it would be better if she had it. It meant something to her, and would do more good in her hands rather than his own. It was a feeling he took on faith to be the right choice.

Also, it had been nice to see how happy it had made her. Besides, it was his to begin with, so he could give it to whom he chose. Although, if it was an heirloom of his master, she might see it differently. If he had just given away what she might consider a priceless artifact…

Georgius scratched the side of his head sheepishly. Maybe he should have thought it through a little more.

Before he could give the matter any more thought, his master stirred in her bed. "fwwaaaa…" she muttered unintelligibly, slowly sitting up and blinking drowsily. Georgius had to admit that it was more than a little adorable. "Are you feeling well, master?" he asked.

"Huh?" she said as she turned toward him before giving a start of surprise. "Gah! Wha-! " She started before she stopped, memory coming back to her, and she slipped back into his native tongue. "Wait, you're the man I summoned. You're my… familiar."

Her tone as she said that last word seemed to carry disappointment for some reason or another. "Yes." He replied. "I heard you call out for me and I answered. I am Tribune Georgius de Lydda, at your service, my master." Georgius mentally chided himself for using his title again. He really had no claim to it anymore, but old habits were hard break.

The young woman looked at him in confusion. "What kind of a name is Tribune? And where is Lydda?"

_Case and point_, the man thought to himself. "Tribune is my rank, not my name, though to be fair I do not hold it anymore. As for where Lydda is in relation to where we are, I cannot say. Now if you would be so kind as to introduce yourself as well?"

She drew herself up straight (which did not add much to her height) and said "I am Louise Françoise de la Vallière, and yes, I am your master!" she was somewhat loud, and there was a small measure of pride in her statement, but not much. After a moment though her confidence seemed to fade and she looked at him nervously. "Are, um, are you a noble?"

Georgius blinked in surprise at such an odd question. "Well, I was born into a noble family of the Roman Empire if that is what you are asking. Why?"

Louise now seemed very uncertain of herself. In fact, she seemed down right mortified. "Oh God, I summoned another noble…" she said to herself, looking down at the bed. "This could be a political nightmare. If mother learns of this-" she cut herself off and her face drained of color.

The man put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "I understand how it could be problematic for a noble of one house to be pledged to another, but I assure you that will not be a problem with me."

"Why wouldn't- wait, do you mean that you are a disgraced noble?" She asked.

Georgius hesitated for a moment before saying "That… is not inaccurate." He doubted that he would have still been considered part of the elite after his summary condemnation and execution, so the statement was correct. Again, the thought of how to broche the subject of his death crossed his mind.

Louise let of a sigh of relief. "Well, at least that's something I don't have to worry about. While you're not the dragon or manticore I wanted, having a magic wielding noble who is clearly a warrior is just as impressive as having a magical beast. In fact, it's even more so!" she said smugly. "And now I can rub it in Kirche's stupid face!"

He would have lightly chastised his mater for that last comment, but what she said before confused him. "Why would you think that I can wield magic? I am not proficient in those arts."

"What!?" she all but yelled. "What do you mean!? I thought you said that you were a noble!"

"And what does that have to do with magic?" he asked, honestly confused.

"All nobles have magic! That's how it works! That is one of the core tenants put forth by Brimir!"

Georgius's brow furrowed. "Really? Well, I don't know who this Brimir is, but magic is not required learning where I come from. Magic has nothing to do with social status back in Rome, though I imagine more would attempt to learn it if it did." He frowned at the thought of that. He knew that not all magic was evil, but he had seen far too many people drawn in by the lure of easy power only to be corrupted by it to not be wary of the force. He hoped that such was not the case in this land.

Louise's jaw fell open at this statement, and she looked at her familiar in total shock. It was almost as if the she couldn't even wrap her head around the concept at all. "Louise?" Georgius asked with some concern. "Are you alright?"

"S-so really you're little better than a commoner?" she said, despair clear in her voice though again he did not know why.

"That is true, although it is nothing I am ashamed of, nor would I consider myself better than others if I did still have my status. All men are equal before God, after all."

This did little to improve his master's mood though. "I didn't summon anything special." She muttered darkly to herself, hugging her knees against her chest. "Just some soldier."

"I am what I am." Georgius said. After a moment's pause, he decided to take a gamble. "If you want some something special, it's worth noting that I was in fact executed for refusing to betray my God and your summoning has literally given me a second life."

She slowly turned her head towards him, her expression one of utter bafflement. Then it became a scowl. "That joke was in terrible taste and probably blasphemous too. Your sense of humor is utterly horrid."

Georgius hung his head. "So I have been told…" he said despondently.

* * *

A/N: I have to thank LordsFire for giving me such a large amount of information on how Christianity was structured back in the day of Saint George. It will be a big help down the line on determining how he will react to things and his view points.

On a somewhat related matter, I'm a little worried that the character will end up becoming preachy. Of course, he was a missionary and spreading the Word around Halkeginia is completely within his character, so that my just be something I'll have to live with.

Also, if you're wondering, he is misunderstanding what Louise meant when she said all nobles have magic. When he finds out what she actually meant, he will be less than pleased.


	3. Chapter 3

It was nightfall by the time that Louise and her familiar left the infirmary and made it back to her room. The young girl was not particularly pleased with the information she had learned from the man. _Magic is not required learning he says, like it's nothing more important that learning to ride a horse!_ she thought incredulously to herself. Considering how all consuming her desire was to learn magic, the idea that it might not have any importance was inconceivable to her. _And he knows nothing of Brimir?! What kind of hopeless, backwards society does he come from?_

All that left her with was a disgraced noble who couldn't use any magic. That was hardly better than a commoner! Granted, he was a soldier, so that implied some level of competence and skill. Louise shuddered to think what she would do if she had summoned some useless oaf who just stumbled through life hoping to get lucky. But still, she had hoped that she would summon something impressive enough that she could use to declare herself a mage, something so grand that no one would dare call her the Zero ever again.

And all she got was a reason for them not to kick her out of the Academy.

She barely paid Georgius any mind has he followed her into the room, muttering under her breath as she did so. Considering the hour, she decided to just go to bed now and deal with all this nonsense tomorrow. Her familiar simply stood off to the side saying nothing as she striped down to change into her night cloths, though he did give a small start of surprise before turning around. The whole time Louise was very acutely and uncomfortably aware of his presence. Normally she should have no problems ignoring other people (after years of insults she had it down to an art), but he had presence which just seemed to fill the room. _This is absurd. He is my familiar, _she thought to herself._ That means he's more like a dog. And not a man in his late 20's who happens to be a common soldier, which are notoriously known for being the crudest and most lewd human beings around and happens to be __**standing a few feet away from me right now-**_

"Stop it!" Louise shouted, trying stop her own thoughts.

"_Is everything alright? I'm afraid that it will take me some time to learn the language of this land._" Georgius said in his own language, still not turning to face her.

"_You! Stop, uh well... Stop doing that!_" She shouted at him, now having a target for her ire. Clearly it was his fault for making her uncomfortable in the first place! Unfortunately, she couldn't quite pin down just what he was doing that was the problem. He was just standing there.

"_Stop doing what?_" It seemed he didn't know either.

"_Just- just turn around._" Louise said hopelessly. She needed to take charge of the situation somehow, and she had finished changing into her nightwear in any case. As the man turn she tossed the clothes she had been wearing previously at him which he caught with some surprise. "_Familiar, I expect you to have those washed by tomorrow morning, understand?_"

Her familiar looked at the clothes curiously before looking back at his master. "_I am confused. I thought that there were servants in this place to take care of such things for the students. Is that not case?_"

Louise felt mild annoyance at her familiar taking back to her as she replied "_Yes, but I might as well get some use out of you. Normally a familiar is supposed to collect reagents for its master, and it's master is supposed to be able to perceive through it's senses. However, I don't see you being much help with the former, and I've already tried the later and it doesn't work for whatever reason. So for the time being you're going to be my personal servant until it can figure out a better use for you."_

Georgius blinked at this before giving what seemed to be a small chuckle of amusement. "_I see. Fair enough I suppose. After I have finished, where am I to retire for the night?_"

Louise wordless pointed at a pile of hay that was stacked near her bed. Georgius looked at it in confusion before a look of understanding crossed his face. "_Ah, of course, you were expecting to summon some kind of animal. I was told by your professor that human summons are unheard of, though I do wonder what you would have done if you had summoned one of the larger creatures._" He shook his head. "_In any case, I suppose that I could try to find a spot amid the servant quarters, or perhaps a cot could be brought up if you insist on my proximity._"

"_No, this is fine._" Louise said dismissively. "_Now off with you._"

To her increasing annoyance, her familiar did not move, instead once again looking at her in confusion. "_Do servants in this land only sleep on hay? Because if so-_"

"_You are not a servant!_" Louise snapped at him. "_I'm mean, I will be using you as one, but as my familiar you do not deserve any better treatment than the others that were summoned. Just think of yourself like a dog._"

The confusion disappeared on his face and it instead settled on a small frown. "_While I suppose I understand your logic, I'm afraid that I do not agree with it. I am still human, and treating me as less than that-_"

"_Don't speak back to me familiar!_" The young woman shouted at him. "_I am your master and you will obey me!_"

"_Yes, though I did say that was contingent on what you ordered me to do, and I consider it immoral to-_"

"_Shut up!_" The mage shouted. She had had enough if this dog's insolence! She snatched her wand off the desk and pointed it at him, chanting the words for the Silence spell,

Naturally, it exploded.

Louise coughed and waved her hand to clear the smoke around her. _Well, it wasn't exactly a success, but at least that will shut him up_, she thought. However, much to her surprise she found Georgius to still standing when the smoke cleared, albeit with some scuff marks on his face and his hair somewhat comically mused. Granted, it wasn't one of her larger blasts, but that still should have knocked him down.

Her familiar gave a small cough while bringing his hands up to fix his hair. "_I apologize for your displeasure, but I am afraid that I must stand my ground on this issue._"

Louise growled. "_Well then, it seems you will have to be disciplined for your insubordination._" She turned from him and rooted around in her draws for a moment before pulling out a riding crop. She had it for when she went out riding, but it would certainly suffice for the moment. She gave the implement an experimental crack for intimidation.

Again, he did not move, instead continuing to look at her as he said "_If you must._"

Louise's anger grew at his seeming unconcern. She did not even bother to wait to tell him to strip off his clothes. She simply strode forward and struck him across the face with the crop. He did not flinch, and merely continued to look at her. And so she struck him again, again, and again.

Louise didn't know how long she kept it up. Certainly long enough for her arm to become tired. She was frustrated at how little it seemed to affect her insolent dog of a familiar. All he had to show for it was a few light red marks across his face. That wasn't the worst part though; the whole time he would not stop looking at her. It was not a look of pain or anger. It was not even a look of contempt or mocking which she was used to.

It almost looked like he was concerned for her.

With a scream of frustration, threw her crop on the ground at his feet and stormed back to her bed. "_Fine. Just go!_" She yelled. "_You can sleep in the hall tonight!" _She fell onto the mattress fuming to herself.

"_Louise..._"

"_I said get out!_" She screamed before burying her face in a pillow. There was a moment of silence before she heard the sound of the door opening and closing. She felt tears building in the corners of her eyes, but she angrily clamped them shut. _Stupid, stupid familiar!_ She thought to herself. _He's no better than an insolent dog! He deserved every lash I gave him!_

But if that was the case... why did she feel ashamed?

* * *

Georgius paused in the hallway to look back at the door, considering whether or not he should go back in. After a moment, he sighed and continued to walk down the hallway, his arms laden with his master's clothes. He knew that his master was much more upset than she was trying to let on, but he still did not know why that was the case. He wanted to help her, but without knowing what exactly the problem was, he was bound to be more harm than good. It was clear that she did not find him very impressive compared to some of the other familiars summoned, and it seemed that she was taking this frustration out on him as a response. In particular, her pride seemed to be injured by it.

However, regardless of her reasons for it, he could not allow her to demean himself (or anyone else) in such a manner. Of course, that did not mean that he found all she told him to do offensive. While some of the other Tribunes he had known in life may have found servant work to be beneath them, Georgius found the chance for a quieter life than his previous one to be a novel opportunity. Besides, a little humility was good for the soul. As well, he didn't think sleeping on hay was necessarily beneath him either (he had suffered through far worse on his travels.)

No, the problem stemmed from the fact that there was no reason for him to do so. He was quite certain that there would be no problems with finding himself some quarters or a cot. That meant the only purpose sleeping on that hay would serve would be to establish himself as less than human in his master's eyes, and that is something he could not allow. To treat any as a lesser being than what the were was not only an insult to the person, but was an insult to their Creator as well. Georgius hoped that he would be able to show Louise as much in the future.

Since he had no idea where to go, Georgius wandered somewhat aimlessly. He had developed a good sense of direction after all his travels, so he was able to keep a decent mental map of where he was within the tower. Still, all he had seen so far was private rooms along with some common areas, and all of the writing he had seen thus far was incomprehensible to him. Fortunately, just about the moment he was beginning to think that he would have to ask for help, he rounded a corner and almost knocked over another person. Backing up, he was surprised to see that it was the same servant which he had encountered in the infirmary and had given his crucifix to. "Ah, excuse me." He said automatically, not thinking of how neither of them could understand the other.

"My Lord!" The woman said in surprise before a small blush crossed her face. "I sorry, I should have watched where I was going."

Georgius was about to tell her that the fault was his own, when both of them straightened in surprise. They had understood each other! "You speak Latin? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Latin? I don't know what you mean." She replied. "Besides, you're speaking Tristainian now!"

Georgius frowned at this. He was certainly used to picking up new languages quickly, but not in a matter of hours, and he wouldn't start using it unconsciously. "Hmm, I suspect that the magic that brought me here might have something to do with this, though why it took so long to take effect eludes me." Many of the intricacies of magic were opaque to him, something his adoptive 'mother' would have been displeased about. "Well, in any case, now I can properly introduce myself. I am Tr- Georgius de Lydda." he said, catching himself before he could use his title.

"I am Siesta de la Tarbes, my Lord." the woman said with a smile and a curtsy. She then gave him a small frown. "I'm sorry, but is that your personal or family name?"

"Personal." He replied. "Lydda is sufficiently small that that the use of family names is not common. Georgius is my only name. I'll admit that it is a far cry from Rome, where the people there have as many 5 names! Sometimes imagine that addressing each other takes up most of the conversation."

"Do you mean Romalia?" Siesta asked. "I've never heard of such a thing before."

He opened his mouth to respond before he paused and sighed. "No, I am quite certain I do not mean that. My native land is very far from here."

She seemed curious, but did not press it any further, instead looking at the clothes he held. "Ah! Do you need those cleaned? I'll take them from you."

"No, that's alright. My master asked me to clean them, so I should be the one to do so. However, I would appreciate it if you could show me to where the wash bins are."

Siesta gave him a confused look, but began leading him down the hallway. "What do you mean 'your master'? Do you mean that you serve another noble?"

"Yes, I was summoned by Louise Françoise this afternoon, and I have sworn myself to her service."

The woman gave a gasp. "You're the person that was summoned by during the Springtime Ritual?!" she asked incredulously. "I had thought that the other servants were exaggerating! Why would you submit yourself to another noble? Particularly Miss Françoise."

Georgius frowned at her comment about his master, but put it aside for later inquiry and instead responded "I have my personal reasons, and as it stands I am no longer part of the nobility of my homeland, so I have no allegiances to them."

"Oh!" Siesta said in surprise, not sure how to take this information. "What happened?"

Georgius was getting uncomfortable having to mislead people on this subject, but if Louise's reaction was any indication, it would not be received well. For the moment, he simply said "I refused to renounce my God, and I opposed the edicts of the Emperor that punished those that worshiped Him."

"You mean that God was not worshiped in your homeland?" She asked, now even more interested in what he was saying. She then blinked as if she had thought of something. "Oh! Before I forget!" She then stepped in front of him and gave a deep bow. "Thank you for returning my pendant."

This brought Georgius up short. "What?" he said in surprise.

"Yes, that pendant was mine. It was a gift from my grandfather just before he passed. I had though I had lost it, but I had accidentally left it in with Miss Françoise clothes."

The man paused a moment before saying "Do you know where your grandfather obtained this… pendant?"

Siesta frowned in concentration as she searched her memory. "I believe he said that it had been in the family for generations. A long time ago in his homeland, there were a great number of missionaries that had come to spread the word of God, though they were not always nice people. He said that one of his ancestors was probably cheated out of a large amount of money for it, told it was some kind of artifact. Still, it was keep with his family throughout years as a sort of lesson in humility. Besides, he said that it still worked fine as a symbol of his faith." She tilted her head to the side. "Why do you ask?"

"Because that is a crucifix. It is the symbol of my faith."

"Really?" She responded, clearly excited by this information. "I've never met anyone else who believed what my grandfather did! You must tell me, are you from his homeland? Or do you know where it is?"

Georgius was about to explain how far he had traveled in his own missionary work before he noticed that the two of them had stepped outside. He had become so focused on her that he had not even noticed when his surroundings had become darker. The sky was clear, so he took the opportunity to look up and search for constellations. Though traveling by stars was more of a sailor's purview, he still knew enough from his studies that he thought that it should give him at least a rough idea of where he was. He craned his neck up-

-and froze. His eyes widened and he felt his mouth opened in shock. The stars were alien to him, but that was not the source of his concern, as if that was all, then it would simply mean that he was farther afield than he had ever been before. No, what had made a chill run down his spine was that in the sky next to the moon, there was a second red sphere hanging next to it.

_Two moons?_ He thought in awe. _That... how is that possible? No amount of time could cause a second moon to appear in the sky!_

"My Lord?" Siesta questioned, concern creeping into her tone. "What's wrong? Can you not tell me where your homeland is?"

"No..." he said numbly. "I don't believe I can..."

* * *

Jean rubbed his eyes wearily before setting his gaze back on the old book. Ever since his meeting with Louise's familiar, he had been scouring through the school library for clues of his origin and that the thing that had been scratching at the back of his mind the more he thought about human summons. Needless to say, he had spent most of it pouring over the history of Romalia, trying to find any record of a schism in the distant past that might have possibly lead to the creation of Georgius's nation.

Unfortunately, he had found no such thing. Either his assumption was off, or there had been no record of such an event, and the later was possible given that the Romalian government would want to suppress any knowledge that dissention may have occurred in their nation so soon after declaring themselves the center of Founderism. The soldier's question about religion also reinforced this idea, making him think that there had been some disagreement between sects.

Jean shook his head and closed the book. In any case, he would have to wait till the next time he saw the man to ask him. Hopefully Georgius would have settled in a bit more by then. In the mean time, he still wanted to look into human familiars. He could have sworn he had heard of them before somewhere, but he just couldn't remember. He took the book under his arm and walked up to the bookshelf he had gotten it from before casting a simple levitation spell on himself to reach the height where he had found it. Thought he was a fire mage, all nobles could cast the lowest level of spells of any element, if not very efficiently. He rose on the cushion of air to the top shelf and put back the book in his hands before taking another one dealing with early history.

As he floated back down the ground, he noticed something at the edge of his perception. Years of hardened reflexes told him that there was a person hiding behind the shelves behind him.

Jean had to suppress his instinct to launch a preemptive strike. He was in a school, so the odds that whoever it was a threat was minimal, which said nothing of the fact that he abhorred the idea of using fire in a library. Instead, he merely said without turning around "If you are looking for a particular book, then perhaps I could point you in the right direction. I'm afraid the librarian has retired for the evening."

There was a small start of surprise behind the shelf before a female voice spoke up. "Oh! I'm sorry if I surprised you Professor Colbert. I've actually been meaning to talk to you."

Jean felt a smile cross his face, and he turned to see the Secretary Longueville rounding the aisle to approach him. She had been hired somewhat recently by Old Osmund to be his personal secretary, mostly for her surprisingly impressive clerical skills. And partially because she was rather attractive, if Jean had to admit. The Headmaster was not always the most...professional, to say the least.

Nevertheless, the professor had a hard time disagreeing. Her intellect combined with her long green hair and spectacles indeed made her a rather attractive woman to Jean. "Of course, my dear." he said, and he gestured to the table. "Sit. So what is it?"

The woman sat down at table and he took a seat across from him as sat as well. "Well, I've been somewhat... concerned over the events of today. I have heard rumors among the staff that magical items have been failing all over the Academy. Some say that even the walls themselves have weakened!" She looked off to the side with a worried expression. "Is the Academy vulnerable?"

Ah, of course. Jean had been too busy with everything today to properly deal with the staff. It was natural that there would be some concern with all the strange things that had happened today. "Don't worry, I assure you that it is not the case. Yes, while it is true that there was some kind of... event which has disrupted magical items across the academy, we are in no danger. The teachers are competent enough to repel any threat that may come." He glance down at the book he had taken and found that it was an historical account of the life of Brimir rather than the one he intended to get. _Ah well_, he thought before flipping it open. He wasn't going to pay much attention to it anyway with Miss Longueville in front of him.

"But we could be such a tempting target if anyone found out!" she insisted. "What of the vault in the central tower Professor Colbert? Is it vulnerable as well?"

"Firstly, please call me Jean." he said with a smile before it faded and he shifted a little uncomfortably. "And, well, yes it technically is. But even in its current state, it is still protected by powerful and ancient magics." he said quickly, flipping another page. "The locks on the vault are some of the most intricate in all of Halkeginia, and it would take a truly tremendous amount of force if anyone thought of simply smashing their way though."

Longueville tilted her head curiously at this. "Why would someone do that?"

"Oh, well, if the vault has any really weakness, I would say that it might have problems dealing with raw, brute force." He replied without thinking before waving his hands in front of him. "Not that anyone knows that! So no one would certainly try it!"

The secretary looked unconvinced, giving that man a shy look. "I don't know... Pro- Jean, if someone did come meaning us harm, you would protect me, wouldn't you?"

Jean drew himself up in his chair. "Madam, you can count on me. Even in the unlikely event that some scoundrel appears, I shall not let a thing happen to you. Besides, the devices and walls that still have enchantments on them are recovering as we speak. It will be no more than a few days before everything is back to normal."

She paused for a moment before giving him a warm smile. "Thank you, Jean. I really needed to hear that." She got up from the table. "Perhaps we could talk again later."

"I would enjoy that." Jean said, ignoring the slight fluttering in his stomach. It had been a very long time since he had spoken with a woman like this.

With that she turned away, Jean's gaze drifting slightly farther downward than what would generally be considered appropriate. He shook his head and turned his gaze back to the book in front of him, wondering if he should just call it a night. However, as his eyes idly glance over the random page he flipped to, a certain passage caught his eye.

_**Brimir's Familiars**_

_As the Founder is known for his creation of the Familiar Summoning Ritual, the subject of his own Familiars is somewhat overshadowed by this, as well as by his other accomplishments. There were two notable things that put Birmir apart in this regard. The first was that he had four familiars. The second was that rather than being a mighty magical beast or some common animal, these familiars were human. While one might question the worth of having a human as such, the Familiar Runes inscribed on their persons granted them great power and abilities beyond that of normal men._

Jean blinked dumbly at the words in front of him before giving a laugh at his luck. _Yes! Now I remember! Brimir's familiars were human! That mean's Georgius isn't the first human summon._ The professor read further to get more details and found drawings of the runes of each familiar the Founder had. Jean thought for a moment before mentally cursing himself for not looking for the runes on Georgius's person (to be fair, he had many distractions at the time). Still he had seen the glow coming from beneath the soldier's left gauntlet before Louise fell into his arms. If he had them, they were probably there.

And if that was the case, that would make him the Gandalfr, the Shield and Left Hand of God. A guardian meant to protect their summoner, and whose might and skill was said to be able to defeat armies. Jean felt his excitement rise at this prospect. He would have to check to be sure, but if it was true that meant a great opportunity for study. They first human summoned in 6000 years! That made Louise the only person aside from Brimir who could-

The last piece fell into place in Jean's head, and his excitement turned into shock. There were a number of things which had made the Founder the mythic figure that he was: he brought together the scattered tribes of humanity to start civilization, he created the Familiar Summoning Ritual, he even created the system of magic that allowed mages to cast beyond the most basic level of spells. But the main reason he was so revered (and feared) was that he wielded the holy Void element. Different from the standard four of fire, wind, water, and air, the power of the Void was a magnitude greater than anything they had achieved even after 6000 years of study. So, if a familiar was supposed to represent your elemental alignment, and the last person who had a human familiar was the Founder, then that meant Louise…

Jean slammed the book shut, grabbing it and bolting out of the library back towards Old Osmund's office.

* * *

Siesta looked over at Georgius with some concern as the two of them washed clothes in the washing bins. The man had said little to nothing ever since they had gone outside and he looked up at the sky. He instead seemed to be deep in thought, his brow furrowed as he absentmindedly scrubbed clothes against a washboard. She didn't know what was wrong, but she did know that she wanted to help. He had been nothing be nice to her ever since she met him earlier that day, something she would have never expected from a Lord. Well, ex-Lord if what he said was true, but still, even those cast out of the nobility were hardly better in temperament than those who were still in power. Georgius was so unlike them that he was almost like a character from a piece of fiction. Her mind started drawing comparison between him and Captain Roberval, the main character of the novel she was reading, _The Corsair and the Unbridled Tempest_. Both were such dashing and honorable figures, and it wasn't hard to imagine Georgius swinging down on a rope from his airship, taking Siesta up in his arms, then taking her back to his cabin to-

The maid's face began to blush violently as she completed that train of thought. Siesta's preferred choice of reading material did not exactly spare any details when it came the things that happened behind closed doors (and though she would never admit it to anyone, it was the primary reason she bought them).

"Siesta? Are you alright?" Georgius asked her, choosing now of all times to start paying attention.

"I-It's nothing! I'm fine!" She insisted, trying very hard not to think about her favored genre of literature. "I'm just worried about you! You've been so quite since we came outside."

The man gave a small sigh. "Ah, I am sorry. I've just had to think. Siesta, this may seem like a strange question, but have there always been two moons?"

"Eh?" She said, confused at the indeed strange question. "Of course. Why wouldn't there be?"

"Because where I come from, there is only one."

"What?! How is that even possible?"

Georgius once again looked up at the sky with a frown. "I cannot be sure, but my best guess for the time being is that I have somehow been summoned to the far side of the Fey Lands."

"Fey Lands?"

"Fey. You know, fairies, sprites, elves-"

"Really?!" Siesta said once more in shock. Little was known of the Holy Land to the east where the Elves resided, and even less about the lands beyond that. Ever since the Elven race had declared hostilities against humanity and drove them out of Brimir's ancestral home, going there had become tantamount to suicide. "My grandfather had said there were differences between his homeland and this one, but he had never said anything about one moon."

"Well, if he is from the same place I was, which I suspect is the case, then it is true. It's possible that he had never said anything because he thought no one would believe him." The man replied, looking somewhat uncomfortable as he said this.

"Well, whatever the case, what can you tell me about his homeland?" Siesta asked with some excitement. "Grandfather never spoke of it much."

"I'm afraid that I wont be able to tell you unless you could give me the specific name of the country. The world is very large and thought I am well traveled I am afraid even then I do not know of every land in the world."

"Oh," She said in disappointment. "I'm afraid I don't know. I remember that he said some things about the trees, the people, how there were no nobles…" Siesta paused when a thought came to her. "Um, Mr. Georgius? I have to ask, can you use magic?" Her Grandfather had said that magic was incredibly rare back where he had come from, and while the maid generally used the word 'noble' as a synonym with the word 'mage', it was possible that Georgius did not have magic. In Germania, it was possible for a commoner with enough wealth to buy the title.

"You can just call me Georgius. And no, I cannot. Unlike this land, the nobility where I came from do not have to know magic to be considered as such."

_Ah, maybe that's why he seemed so different from the nobles here_, she thought to herself. Then again, he had said it himself that he wasn't even a noble any more. "So, if you aren't a noble, and you can't use magic, what does that make you?" she said out loud before wincing and cursing herself for asking such an uncouth question.

The man paused his washing to look at her before looking off to the side in thought. "A man of God." He eventually replied. His gaze fell on his armor, which he had taken off and put to the side before he had begun his work. "A soldier." After another moment's pause, he finished with "And a knight."

Siesta's heart fluttered a little at that. Of course the man before her was a knight. They were said to be the most honorable and upright men in all the world. Given how obvious it was that Georgius was a military man, she was surprised that she had not thought of it sooner. Still, even with this fact, given the recent revelations she had learned about him, he seemed more… relatable now. Without magic or titles, he was more like a commoner, like herself. "So, is that why you swore an oath of service to the Lady Françoise? And why you're willing to do her laundry?"

Georgius looked slightly confused at this before grabbing another piece of clothing and saying "Well, yes, but that's not the only reason. It is good for a man to do simple work every once and a while, to remind him of humility." He gave a smile. "Besides, laundry is something I actually know how to do. Considering how much time I spent on the road, I would have spent most of it smelling something foul if I never washed my own clothes."

Siesta was about to respond when she noticed the garment in Georgius's hand. "Um, I believe you need to wash that more gently."

The man blinked before holding up what were now his master's torn underthings. His face went red and he looked off to the side embarrassed. "… to be fair, I am used to dealing with fabric somewhat stronger than this."

The maid gave the man a smile and moved closer to show him how to handle the softer fabrics. The fact that this allowed her to get physically closer to the knight that had been to kind to her all day was completely coincidental.

* * *

A/N: This chapter feels a little… patchwork to me. I wish I could get it to flow a bit smoother, but there were some thing I wanted to get out of the way, and this was the best time for them to happen.

Also, fun fact to keep in mind: What Siesta and George consider a 'knight' to be are surprisingly different. As in, the difference between a 12th century European knight and a knight of the Roman Empire.


	4. Chapter 4

Looking at his master from across the table, Georgius found her posture and the air around her very tense. He supposed that it was understandable given how things ended between them last night, but he had been hoping that she has cooled down somewhat after sleeping. He had spent the night in a spare bed the servant quarters, and returned to his master's door at dawn and waited with her laundry. When Louise exited the room and found him standing there, she looked like there was a good deal she wanted to say to him (most likely at a volume that indicated displeasure), but she had strangely held her tongue. She then gave him a few curt instructions to put away her cloths and to meet her in one of the courts after breakfast. Apparently the day was supposed to be spent by her class getting to know the familiars they summoned.

Which now led to his current situation, sitting at a table in a courtyard with his master and a very uncomfortable silence between them. It seemed that he would have to be the first to reach out. "It there something you would like me to do, master?" He offered.

"I'd like for you to be a real familiar, Founder damn it!" She yelled, the floodgates now open. "I'd like for you do what I tell you to do, not to say 'no' and then treat your due punishment like, like it was nothing! I'd like for you to be my first actual success!"

Georgius titled his head to the side slightly. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by that."

"I mean that you're just a common soldier! That's hardly something to be proud of! A familiar represents a mage's power as well as there alignment, and you're just more proof that I have neither!"

The man leaned back at this, surprised and somewhat stunned by this. This was why she was so upset? She had made mention of it back in the infirmary, but he had not given it too much thought then. Granted, he could understand that he was not as ostensibly impressive as some of the other magical creatures that were summoned (the dragon had come to mind), but still. "I think that you are selling yourself short, my master."

"Don't patronize me!" she snapped.

Georgius was about to respond when a new voice interrupted. "Miss Françoise, you are supposed to be using this time to get closer to your familiar, not to yell at him." The two turned their heads to see Professor Colbert approaching their table, his staff in one hand and some books and paper rolled up under his other arm.

Louise gave a small start and looked off the side, mildly embarrassed for being seen so unbecoming in front of a professor. "I-It was his fault…" she muttered. "He was being disobedient. Familiars are supposed to do whatever their master says!"

"While that may be true of normal familiars, I am afraid that I must remain an exception for reasons that I have already mentioned." The soldier replied. "Your geas is insufficient to make me do otherwise."

"Geas?" the professor asked with some confusion. "What do you mean?" Louise seemed to be equally confused by his statement.

"…The one that was put on me when she marked me yesterday." He said, now becoming as confused as the other two. "You know, the mental compulsion to obey the one who had given the mark." In truth, Georgius had not given his branding as much thought as he likely should have, though to be fair being brought back from the dead gave him a lot to think about. While he had noticed the compulsion immediately, he had set the matter to the side until he had time to learn more about the situation he had found himself in, and once he realize that the mark was never meant to be used on humans, had decided to let the matter go for the time being. After all, the geas would not sway him; his faith was too strong. "Of course, I would prefer it if you removed it as soon as possible."

Colbert looked at him in thought for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. "Of course! The Familiar Contract Obligation theory! Mages have been wondering for years just why normally wild and violent animals have become docile upon the contract, but no one has been able to prove anything! But since you're a human, this can lead to a breakthrough because that means you can help us analyze the… compulsion on a… fully sentient… oh dear…" the man trailed of, his academic excitement failing upon realizing just how morally dubious the situation actually was. He pulled himself up with an apologetic expression "Sir Georgius, I must apologies profusely for the situation you are now in. I would not have allowed the contract had I know that this was the case. Magic that affects the mind in such a manner is very illegal in Halkeginia."

As these words, Lousie turned white as she realized that she was one who cast this very illegal magic in the first place. "Oh Founder mother is going to kill me…" she muttered over and over again, rocking back and forth slightly.

Georgius spared at glance at the girl. He was starting to get the impression that Louise's mother was a rather stern woman. "I would not worry about it. No one knew before hand and I am suffering no ill effect from it."

"Indeed Louise," the professor agreed. "It is a sacred ceremony that has been preformed for thousands of years. You are not going to be blamed for something you could not have possibly predicted." The pink haired woman breathed out a sigh of relief at this, and Colbert continued. "In any case Georgius, I am afraid that it cannot be removed. Any such magic will be bound within the runes themselves. Normally I would not even consider trying to remove them, as since they were created by the Founder Brimir, such an act would be tantamount to blasphemy. Still even in this case, I am afraid that no one has the knowledge of how to accomplish such a thing." He paused for a moment before a thought occurred to him. "Ah, before I forget, may I see your familiar runes?"

The soldier was a little surprised at this request, but nodded and removed his gauntlet, offering his left hand to the professor to look it over. While Colbert put his books and such down on the table and began to excitedly look over the markings, Georgius turned back to Louise. "You see? You managed to cast a permanent geas on me. No small feat if I do say so myself."

Louise shifted uncomfortably at the praise. "Yeah, well, you said it's not even really affecting you, so how is that a success?"

Georgius gave a sigh. "If that does not satisfy you, then how about how you summoned me in the first place?"

Her frown deepened. "Familiar, if you go spouting that nonsense about-"

"Ah, no, not that." The man said quickly. "What I meant was that you summoned me from farther away than I believe any of you're classmates accomplished."

"Really. And just how far away is that?" she asked flatly.

"Enough that there is only on moon in the sky rather than two."

"Really?!" Colbert exclaimed, looking up from Georgius's hand. "I've never heard of a place where only one moon is visible!"

Louise on the other hand was more skeptical. "One moon? That is absurd. How would the tides work?"

Georgius blinked, not quite sure how to respond to that. "Differently, I would imagine. In any case, considering the differences between my home and this place, I have come to the conclusion that I have been summoned from beyond the Fey Lands."

"Fey Lands?"

The soldier frowned. He wasn't that surprised that the maid did not know what he was taking about, but he would have thought that mages here would have known of the land where fairies dwelled. "It is a land separate from our own where spirits and fairies dwell. My knowledge of it is limited, but I do know that that it boarders the normal world. In light of current events, it may be possible that it boarders several."

"That is an… interesting theory." The professor said, rubbing his chin in thought.

Again, Louise was not convinced. She gave a sigh. "That is very fanciful, but it is still absurd. I refuse to believe such nonsense without proof."

Georgius gave another sigh. "You are a rather difficult master to please. I assure you that everything I say is the truth. I would like to have a talk with you about faith later, but for the moment there is still one thing which I can use as proof of your skill." He looked between the two mages present. "You have both been speaking Tristainian since this conversation has started."

The two looked at each other before looking back at him. "Yes… what's your point?" Louise asked.

"I do not speak that language."

Louise opened her mouth to say something before she paused and blinked. "Wait, you're right. How have you been following the conversation?"

"It would seem that there has been an enchantment placed on me which allows me to understand it. This is most likely a delayed effect from the summoning, or perhaps a result of whatever spell you tried to cast on me last night." Georgius had give some thought to this newfound ability of his last night, and realized that it had taken effect after the incident he had with his master. "After I left your room, I was perfectly able to converse with one of the maids I had found."

His master shifted awkwardly. "It was supposed to be a silence spell…" she said with some embarrassment.

The soldier raised an eyebrow at this before saying slowly "So, in your attempt to still my tongue, you instead gave me the ability to comprehend unknown languages? That… is the most spectacular failure I have every seen."

Louise's face flushed more, but whatever she might have had to say on the subject was swept to the side by Professor Colbert's sudden enthusiasm. "Really?! You can cast such magic, Miss Françoise?" He leaned in very close to the pink haired woman, causing her to lean back in surprise as the man continued. "I have never even heard of such magic before! Why, such a spell could completely change the field of historical research, not to mention diplomatic relations! Do you think you could do it again?"

Louise was surprised by this, and the blush remained on her face, though Georgius suspected it was for a different reason now. "I, uh, I think. But I'm not sure-"

She was cut off by more rambling on the part of professor, mostly speculation interspersed with praise for the young mage and her accomplishment. The soldier did not fail to notice the small smile beginning to work its way onto Louise's face. Georgius felt a small amount of pleasure for his part in assuring his master's self-worth.

Eventually Colbert's rant came to a head when he said "And of course this explains so much for early civilization. Birmir would have had a massive advantage in uniting the scattered tribes of humanity if he could-" he suddenly cut himself off, his face paling as if he had said something that he shouldn't have. "I, uh, I mean… I have to go now! Thank you for your time!" and with that he grabbed his things and quickly ran off.

Georgius and Louise looked after him confused for a moment before the younger of the two jumped to her feet with a start and ran after him. "Wait! Tell me more about how I cast impressive and useful magic!"

Georgius looked after the two with a small amount amusement before settling back in his chair and sipping some tea. It was quite good, so he decided to take the brief moment of respite to enjoy himself.

The moment was not to last though, as only a few minutes later he noticed a commotion occurring on the other side of the courtyard. He briefly contemplated whether or not to investigate, but the voices he heard sounded heated and angry. Given that this was a school filled with adolescents capable of wielding magic, there was a good chance that someone would get hurt if shouting turned to violence, likely someone not even involved. He got up from the table and walked over to the source of the noise, around which a small crowd was forming. He gently pushed his way to the front, but as he was taller than most of the teens there, he could see a pair of female students yelling angrily at a male student, who was trying in vain to placate them.

It was pretty clear what it looked like, but Georgius decided to ask before he jumped to conclusions. "Excuse me," he asked a student he was standing next to. "but what is going on here?"

"Hm? Oh, it looks like Guiche here got caught two timing with Montmorency and Katie. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long before the man got caught doing something like this."

Georgius gave a disappointed sigh at the predictable outcome. Oh to be young and male. It was hardly surprising all things considered. Despite his disapproval of the practice, many of the nobility back in the Roman Empire had… arrangements outside the bonds of marriage. However it seemed that was not the case in this land, or if it was, the blonde haired boy in the ruffled shirt had handled the situation very poorly.

"How could you cheat on me! Again!" The blonde haired girl with hair ringlets shrieked at him.

"I-I thought you cared for me!" The brown haired girl said in a half sob.

"BASTARD!" Both yelled out as they simultaneously slapped him across the face and stormed off.

Guiche was knocked on his rear end by the force of the two strikes and sat there dumbly for a moment. Georgius guessed by the look on his face that this was the first time his actions had ever caught up to him like this. In that case, while the event was a little painful, there would be a good chance that he would realize how he could hurt other people by acting selfishly, and help him grow as a person.

Unfortunately, Georgius's wishful thinking turned out to be only just that when the boy pulled himself to his feet, and turned to a member of the crowd, anger clear on his face and in his voice. "You! This is your fault!"

The soldier turned his head to see who he was talking to, and became alarmed when he saw that it was Siesta, clutching a sliver tray to her chest like a shield and tears threatening to leave her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, I was just t-trying to return the vial you dropped-"

"I told you it wasn't mine!" He yelled. "If you have simply listened to you better and walked away, two beautiful maidens would not be in tears! I will have your job for this!"

That would simply not do.

"Now, I am sure that will not be necessary." Georgius said as he stepped into the circle, pulling the boys gaze from the maid to himself. Siesta's eyes widened as she saw him.

Giuche's eyes narrowed slightly. "I remember you. You're that… soldier that the Zero summoned yesterday." He said this evenly, but with a hint of uncertainty, as if not quite sure what to make of him.

"Zero? If you mean Louise Françoise, then yes that is the case." He wasn't certain, but that name sounded derogatory. He would have to learn more at some point.

Guiche continued to give him a measuring look before saying "Well, as the son of the great general Gramont, it would be remiss if I did not introduce myself." He pulled out a rose of all things and gave it a flourish. "I am Guiche de Gramont, heir to a line of soldiers in service to this nation for hundreds of years! Tell me, what is your name and rank?"

Georgius paused for a moment before he said "I am Tribune Georgius de Lydda, but I am no long a part of the military of my nation. In any case, I do not see what that has to do with the topic at hand."

"Tribune? That it not a rank I have heard of… but you say that you are a soldier no longer? Well, that makes things simpler I suppose." He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "This does not concern you. Leave now and I shall forget your impudence for interrupting me."

_Ah, he was trying to establish his position in relation to me_, Georgius thought. The boy clearly had some respect for those in the profession of war (most likely due to his father if what he said was true), and had wanted to see how important Georgius was before taking a stance. It seemed that the fact he had left the military had diminished him in boy's eyes. Though it wasn't often that Georgius took overly much pride in his work for the Roman Empire, Giuche's automatic dismissal still grated him. The boy seemed to think that he had left early in his career or was dishonored. Granted, the later case was true for him, but the blonde fop should not be so dismissive before knowing more.

"I must insist," Georgius replied "for it seems that you believe that the servant here is at fault for your previous altercation. I find this rather unlikely."

Giuche frowned at him. "I said it was of no concern of yours, but if you simply must know, that maid tried to force a bottle of perfume on me and insist that it was mine. This resulted in a… misunderstanding that impugned on both of those young ladies honors."

"But… that was totally the vial of perfume that Montmorency gave you." A boy behind him pointed out.

"And you were just bragging to us how you were seeing two different girls." A second boy remarked.

"I think the two ladies understood this pretty well." Said a third.

"Shut up! Traitors!" The blonde yelled as he whirled in place to glare at the boys behind him.

Georgius had to keep himself from letting out a small chuckle. "Well, there you have it then. Clearly she is not to blame. I would think that your time would be better spent seeking forgiveness from the two that you wronged than taking your frustration out on the staff."

Giuche whirled back to look at Georgius, his face flushed with embarrassment and anger. "How dare a lowly foot soldier like you look down on one of noble blood?!"

"Point of fact, I am actually a knight, but whichever might be the case, it does not change the fact that the only one to blame is yourself."

The boy scoffed at this, clearly not believing him. "So you're a knight now? Fine. Prove it to me then." He gave a flourish with his rose. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Georgius blinked and looked at the boy dumbly. "What?"

"I shall met you in the Vestai Court in ten minutes. If you truly are knight, your honor will keep you from running like a coward." He gave the older man a smug smirk before he sauntered off, much of the crowd following after him.

Needless to say, the man was stunned. Mostly by the fact that a boy had challenged him to a duel, and no one there had laughed at the clearly ridiculous idea. It was so inappropriate that Georgius did not even know where to start. For the moment he put that to the side and turned to face Siesta, who was still staring at him with wide eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked.

She gave a start as he addressed her. "Yes! I'm fine!" She said a little too loudly. "Are- are you really going to fight Lord Gramont?"

Georgius frowned. "I would think not. Honestly, challenging me to a duel under these circumstances would almost make me think that he's trying to do it to save face, if the idea didn't completely fly in the face of how honor worked. Not to mention all of the other reasons why it would be improper." Seriously, he would have thought that the boy would know at least that much if his father truly was a general.

Siesta gave him a confused look at that statement, as if she did not understand what he was saying. He was about to explain himself when a voice shouted from behind him "Familiar!" He turned around to find his master striding towards him with an angry look on her face. And she had been in such a good mood too. "What is this I heard about you fighting Giuche?" She demanded as she got close to him.

Georgius sighed. "It seemed that his temper got the better of him and he walked off before I could respond." He paused for a moment in thought. The boy did seem young and inexperienced, but it seemed prudent to be sure. "Tell me master, is this Lord Gramont an accomplisher of great deeds? Has he been honored in anyway?"

"What?" Louise asked, confused by the question. "No, of course not, he's just a useless skirt chaser. Now come on." She said as she grabbed his hand and tried to pull him in the direction the others had gone.

Of course, now that his suspicions were confirmed, he had no intention of any such thing, and Louise didn't exactly have the leverage necessary to move the larger man. "Then I have no intention of fighting him."

"Really?" Siesta asked, somehow sounding both relived and disappointed at the same time. "Why not?"

It was now Georgius's turn to look confused. "Because he is a boy."

Louise looked at him like he was an idiot for a second before she slowly said "…he's a mage. I think that more than makes up for him being younger than you."

"No, his age doesn't have anything to do with this- well, I suppose his inexperience does play a part, but it's more than that." He said, feeling strange that he had to explain this. "Lord Gramont is a boy. He has yet to go through the trials and tribulations that will give him the right to call himself a man. He does not even have the right to challenge me. Such a thing is earned, not given. I would gain no honor by fighting him, and he has already made it clear that he does not believe me to have any honor either, however wrong he might be. As far as I can tell, neither of us have anything to gain by dueling each other besides someone's death on our hands, and everyone else here should know better than to take his challenge seriously."

Siesta put on a thoughtful expression at this, while his master looked completely flabbergasted by his response. "What… that's not… honor doesn't…" she shook her head. "How can something sound right yet be so wrong at the same time?" She asked herself.

Georgius wasn't certain why he was getting this response but he decided to switch the conversation to more pressing matters. "Though I think I've taken his mind off of it for now, he was intending to get Miss Siesta in trouble for her part in exposing his deceit involved two female students. Can he actually have her fired for such a trite reason?"

"Huh?" Louise said snapping out of her own mutterings. "Well, not exactly. He would need an actual reason to take to the Headmaster, but a simple came of insubordination would be enough."

"Which would be a lie." Georgius said firmly. "And plenty of people can confirm this."

"I don't know…" Louise said slowly. "I'm not sure that enough of the students will care enough to come forward if Guiche does make a claim."

"People are better than you give them credit for. I'm sure that a little convincing is all that is needed to keep them from falling victim to their own weaknesses. Besides which, even if no one else would come forward, I would not allow such a thing to happen to Siesta."

If he was looking in the other direction, he might have noticed the other woman blushing at this comment.

Louise continued to frown for a moment longer before she shook her head again and took his hand, once again trying to lead him to the court. "Well, we can deal with that later. While it's smart of you not fight Giuche (though you came to that conclusion in a stupid way), you still need to apologize to him."

"For what? I merely pointed out that he was at fault for his own actions."

"That was the insult! The fact that it is true doesn't matter!"

Georgius's expression became stern. "I will not coddle the boy. If he does not learn that his actions are wrong and how to deal with it, he will never become a better person."

Louise clenched her fists in frustration. "You're just a commoner and he's a noble! You can't just speak to them however you please!"

While he had spent most of his time either on the edge or beyond the Roman Empire, he was aware that there were those among the privileged that considered themselves… well, better than those of lower status. Many of his fellow knights had either had to play politics with such people or more unfortunately became one themselves. One on the perks of traveling so much was that he generally didn't have to deal with such things.

And considering his current situation, he saw no reason to start now. "No."

"Gah! Stupid insolent Familiar! If you don't he'll probably try to kill you!"

"I like to think that I am not prone to arrogance, but I think that I can handle an adolescent which you yourself described as a 'useless skirt chaser'."

"It doesn't matter he's an idiot, he's a mage!"

"Again, you people keep bringing up things which I fail to see the relevance to current conversation. My faith will protect me against whatever he might bring to bear."

"A commoner can't fight a mage." She ground out through her teeth. "It's suicide! Mages are favored by God!"

There were a number of things wrong with that statement, but Georgius focused on one thing in particular. "Now you're exaggerating to the point of blasphemy. To say that God favors those with magic over those without is absurd. God loves all of his children, not just those with magic."

For whatever reason, this completely floored the pink haired girl, and her mouth dropped open. If she was trying to respond to this, the only noise that came from her throat for a few moments was a choking sound. Eventually she seemed to get her wits about her again and said "H-how dare you say something like that?! Its not- the idea that- it's the way the world works, Founder damn it!"

The man's confusion lasted for a moment before he remembered something she had said the other day in the infirmary, that nobles having magic was one of the 'core tenets put forth by Brimir'. What if… no, that couldn't be what she meant. That would be… "Master…" he said slowly. "When you said that all nobles have magic, you didn't mean that simply having magic was enough to grant a person nobility, did you?"

"Of course that's what I meant!" She yelled back. "How else is it supposed to be? Magic is what gives us the right to rule!"

Georgius went stiff upon hearing this. This… this land was a mageocracy? And more than that, it was one that claimed the support of _God_ in its supposed superiority?! There had been very few times when Georgius considered himself truly angry.

This was one of those times.

His emotions must have been apparent to the other two women, as they began to back away from him slightly. He wanted to tell Louise just how wrong she was, how much of a sin it was to attach God's name to something so unfair. However, he refrained from doing so upon looking at her fearful face. It was not her fault, surely not, and he did not trust himself at the moment to not go overboard if he started to rant.

Instead, he merely said in a strained voice "Any God who would support such a thing is no God of mine." Before he turned around and walked off, wanting some time to calm down think to himself.

* * *

The secretary Longueville took a few careful glances left and right before she stepped out of the central tower. She did so because at the moment she was not dressed in her usual robes of her day job, but rather the magically enchanted robes of her true profession. She has taken on the job of secretary at the Academy a she need time to, as they would colloquially say, 'case the joint'. From this turn of phrase, it would be reasonable to assume that she was a thief.

Not just any thief, though. She was Fouquet, the legendary Mage-Thief who has stolen from the wealthiest and most guarded treasures all across Halkeginia.

And Fouquet knew that when an opportunity presented itself, it was prudent to take it. Her little conversation with Professor Colbert had been most enlightening as to the current status to the vaults defense. The man was so easily taken in by her 'distressed damsel' routine that she almost felt bad for him.

Almost. He was a mage after all, and experience had taught her that they were hardly worth any respect or mercy.

In any case, he had said that the vault was weak now, but would recover within a few days. She had originally planed to wait a little longer and perform the heist during the Princess's visit in a few weeks (for added humiliation), but now seemed like a better time anyway. She had started to believe that fate was on her side as well when she heard that two students would be fighting on the opposite side of the tower (she had in fact heard that it was a student and another's familiar, but that was just silly). This provided her with a distraction as well. She had originally considered hiring some bandits to attack the Academy before, but she didn't like the idea that one of the servants might get killed because of it. She saw no reason to make the common folk suffer anymore than the nobility were already making them.

When she had walked far enough away from the tower, Fouquet gave a sweep of her wand and a generous application of her willpower, and the ground beneath her shook. Slowly at first but with increasing speed, the ground she stood on rose. As it rose higher and higher, it shaped itself into a crude facsimile of a head, arms, legs and torso. Seconds after she had cast the spell, she was standing on the shoulder of a 100 foot tall golem made of stone and dirt.

Not nearly as subtle as she usually liked, but that naive man had told her that brute force was the best option, so she would use every last bit she had.

As well, the golem's height now put it on equal level of the vault in the center of the tower. No one had noticed her just yet, so it was with a small smile that she ordered her golem to reel its fist back to cave in the vault wall.

It was also with some surprise that she ordered it to stop when she heard someone call out "Excuse me!" She blinked in confusion before looking down at the courtyard she was standing in, and found there to be a soldier in brass armor looking up at her sternly. She was even more confused when he shouted again, somehow very politely.

"I'm going to have to ask you to stop."

* * *

A/N: So, I know that a lot of you were hoping for violence to be had, and for it to happen on Giuche in this chapter and for that I apologize. It ran kinda long, and I wanted to give it the length it deserved. So, next time, violence! I promise. As for Giuche, well, I really couldn't see Georgius actually accepting the duel without contriving something. He has no reason to fight him, and nothing is really at stake as there are enough reasonable authority figures at the Academy that Siesta wouldn't lose her job because he was being a twit. Besides, I can guarantee you that it wouldn't have been a particularly interesting fight anyway.

Now, as to why Georgius responded the way he did to the challenge, well, that has to do with his character and history, which is slightly more complex than you might think. Here's the breakdown.

First and foremost, he is a Christian. Enough said, moving on.

Secondly, he has the personality of a 12th century European knight. This is not his code, or his morals, or even his honor: it's just who he is. The thing is, King Arthur's behavior in _Le Morte d'Aurthur_ was modeled after the real Saint George, and much of the medieval Honor Code in the 12th century was modeled after that poem. In short, Georgius was a knight before it was cool.

Thirdly, he was an actual knight of the Roman Empire, and that is what came through the most here. More specifically, he was an _eques_ of the _ordo equester_, which the translation spell is interpreting as 'knight'. He would say that he wasn't a particularly good Roman (the whole going against the emperor kinda proves that), but it's still a part of him, and that's where he gets his definition of 'honor' from. To a Roman Knight, honor is keeping your word, Heroism, and personal glory. Saving face is not. Furthermore, duels between knights were to gain honor for defeating someone of skill and taking their decoration, as well as being to the death. Georgius also shows the Roman idea of manhood when he is talking to Louise. All of this put together (along with objections from the other two parts of his character) are why he thinks Guiche challenging him to a duel is so utterly stupid.

I will note that when it comes up, he'll prefer this world's version of knights to his own.

On a slightly unrelated note, I wanted to get Louise some attention to having a universal translator spell. That is so mind bogglingly useful and amazing, yet no one seems to think about it in the actual series.


	5. Chapter 5

Fouquet was still for a moment, looking down at the man who called out to her and trying to decide if he really did just say that. Under normal circumstances she already would have just started to ignore the soldier or stepped on him but… he was just standing there looking back up at her, seemingly completely at ease despite the fact that he was standing next to several tons of animate earth. Eventually, her curiosity won out and she called out "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" The magic enchantment on her hood and cloak altered her voice to make her sound like a man.

"I said that I'm going to have to ask you to stop." The man repeated. "I know not why you wish to do harm to this academy, but if you stop now, I promise that no harm will come to you."

Fouquet blinked. "And what, pray tell, will happen if I don't?"

"Then I am afraid that I will be able to make no such promise."

The woman looked at the soldier for a moment longer before she burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. The fact that he was just so _serious_ about it was what really sold it for her. "Well, good luck with that!" she called out after she got her laughter under control, and promptly ordered her golem to smash in the side of the tower.

The massive fist collided with the stone work with a colossal crash, but Fouquet was surprised to see that the tower wall held. She felt a brief moment of panic before she drew the fist back, but it abated when she saw that the strike had still done significant damage. The wall had caved a good ways in and a large pattern of spider cracks ran up the wall. It would probably only take one more good hit to finish the job. _Still, the vault is weaker than usual and it still held up against a fully powered strike from my golem? It was wise of me to do this now. I might not have managed it at all if I had waited._

Fouquet flicked out her wand again, intent on giving the order to finish the job. However, the moment before she could there was a tingling on the back of her neck, instinct causing her to spin around, and she was most surprised and alarmed to see the soldier pulling himself up over the edge to the golem's opposite shoulder and sprint right at her! _Fast!_ Was the only thought that went through her mind as he cleared the distance much faster than he should have been able to. Fortunately for her, while she generally avoided combat, Fouquet's younger years had been rougher for her than most, and as such she was no stranger to it. Reflexes took over and in an instant a wall of rock formed between her and the soldier, just seconds before he was on her.

This would have given her more comfort if the wall didn't simply crumble when he reached it.

Fouquet only had a second to take this in, and that second almost cost her dearly as she was barely able to jump back before the man's fist connected with her torso. Normally the woman was able to keep herself calm no matter what the circumstances, but everything had happened so fast and unexpectedly that all she wanted was to get away from the man in front of her. As such, when the man leapt at her again, Fouquet promptly willed the golem beneath her feet to let her sink down into it, putting her firmly out of the grasp of the soldier. She took her moment's pause in the hollow space in the golem's torso to breathe out a sigh of relief…

…which quickly turned into a sharp gasp when he punched the rock of the golem's hide above her and she felt it weaken.

_How in the hell is this possible?!_ She thought to herself. For starters, the man was definitely moving faster than he should have been able to, considering how he managed to scale the 100 ft golem in a matter of a dozen or so seconds. And for another thing he was strong enough to punch right through stone!

Except… that wasn't it. A frown settled onto her face, as a second blow connected and she felt the rock become weaker still. It wasn't that he was strong; the force required to simply smash through the wall she had made earlier would have caused chucks of it to go flying, but instead it merely crumbled. This wouldn't have made sense except for the fact that the wall had been made from the same rock as the golem it was pulled up from, which was not a solid piece of stone so much as a large amount of rock and dirt held together with magic. It had to be somewhat granular in order to move. It wasn't that the man was that strong, it was that his blows were somehow voiding the magic that held the earth together. Her only consolation was that he seemed to have a harder time doing so to her golem.

Fouquet commanded the golem to swat the soldier off itself, but from within her current confines, she couldn't see what was going on. She felt the massive construct shake as it stuck itself a few time where she thought he was, but each time she paused to check, there would be a another strike and the spider web of crack above her would grow. More likely than not, the soldier would get in, but she no longer felt panic. She had gotten time to recompose herself and assess the situation. Now, she knew what to do.

The final strike came, and like the wall before the rock above her lost cohesion and opened, revealing the soldier in a crouch looking down at her. There was a single moment of silence where the two did not move, staying completely still as the looked at each other. Then the man opened his mouth. "If-"

That was the moment Fouquet had waited for, and in that instant she threw her free arm over her face and gave a twitch of her wand hand, transmuting the stone around the edge of the hole into magnesium. Another swift flick and a little fire magic later, she heard the soldier scream out in surprise and pain as the metal ignited. She could feel the heat of the burning metal, but her cloak had enchantments to protect her from such things. She opened her eyes as soon as she dared and opened up the hole above her even wider, leaving the briefly stunned man nothing to stand on, and so he dropped down in front of her.

Wasting no time, Fouquet thrust a pillar of stone out of the 'floor' at him. The man regained his senses just in time to catch the pillar square in the chest, lifting him off his feet and through the relatively thin wall of rock that led out to the front of the golem. Through the hole he had made, Fouquet saw him slam into the outstretched arm of the golem before dropping out of sight.

Fouquet let out a breath at this before filling the cavity she was in, letting herself rise to the top and be standing on the golems shoulder like she was a minute before. The pillar hadn't connected with as much force as it should have, most likely due to whatever was causing him to make her magic fail before. Lucky, she was able to make it work for her and easily push him through the stone wall and out into a 90 ft or so drop. She walked to the edge of the golem to look at the body and _why in the hell was it getting up?!_

The woman felt no small amount of shock at the sight of the man pulling himself to his feet at the base of the golem, seemingly no worse for the wear despite the fact that he had just fallen from a ridiculous height. And the way he was glaring up at her showed that he had managed to regain his sight must faster than he should have as well. _What the hell is he?_ She thought to herself. No man should have been able to survive that. No man should be able to move that quickly or disrupt magic. She briefly wondered if he was a mage, but discarded it. She never saw him use a wand for one thing, and for another, well, he just didn't seem to behave like any noble she had every met.

One thing was clear though: he was a threat, and one that Fouquet couldn't afford to underestimate or ignore. He had already wasted enough of her time. Any longer and she would lose the element of surprise, and then the Academy staff would arrive and she would had a great deal more trouble getting what she came for. She needed to get rid of him and fast. With a mental command, she ordered her golem to crush the man before her.

The golem lifted up one of its massive feet and brought it back down over the soldier, intent on flattening him with its entire weight. However, the man once again showed that he was quicker than he had any right to be and jumped to the side before the foot smashed back into the ground. The force from stop caused him to tumble through the air somewhat, but he quickly righted himself to land in a crouch. He then, rather than doing what any sane person would do, ran straight towards the 100 ft behemoth.

Fouquet brought the golem's fist down at him, a cloud of earth and dirt erupting from the spot where it impacted. She lost sight of him for a moment, but he then shot out of the cloud, running up the arm of the construct in an attempt to once again get at her person. She was prepared for this though, and with a quick chant a number of stone spears emerged from the golem's upper arm and shot down at the advancing man. With nothing to block them with and little room to maneuver, he was forced to slow his advance to dodge the projectiles, which he mostly managed to do. One or two connected, and while they pushed him back some, they did not skewer him like they should have and merely broke apart upon contact with his breast plate. By the time they had passed, he found the arm to be rapidly rising and jumped off, as the force would have undoubtedly thrown him clear of the Academy walls.

This continued for a while longer, with Fouquet continually trying to crush the man with her golem's stomps and punches, and him trying to climb it. Neither seemed to be gaining any appreciable ground though, as she had enough magic to keep him from scaling her mount, and he was fast enough to avoid its blows. In short order the courtyard they were in looked like it had sustained significant artillery fire it was so torn up. Fouquet ground her teeth in frustration. This wasn't working. Though she was a Square-class mage, the most powerful class of mage there was, he Willpower was still finite. An hour ago she would have laughed at the idea of some commoner physically outlasting her Willpower, but with this man she wasn't willing to put it out of the realm of possibility. What was worse, she was running out of time-

A roar from above was her only warning, and Fouquet cursed as she ducked behind the lump that was the golem's head, just before a wave of fire swept through where she was just standing. She glanced around the stone and spotted a dragon flying towards her, carrying what looked to be two students on its back, a tall red head and a short blue haired girl. Now it seemed that she had run out of time. If the students had noticed then she only had a handful of seconds before the adults came. If she wanted to get what she came for, she would have to change her strategy and fast. She could just try to refocus her efforts on the vault, but she couldn't afford to take her focus off of the soldier. She needed some way to distract or hamper him...

The way she was looking for revealed itself when a streak of pink hair entered the courtyard, yelling something at the soldier. It was that noble girl who was always causing property damage with her incompetent magic. The way the man was reacting to her seemed to indicate some connection or another. Fouquet grinned to herself. The man wouldn't be able to stop her if he was to busy protecting the girl.

And if he failed, it was not like anything of value would be lost.

* * *

Louise fumed to herself as she wandered the grounds, muttering darkly under her breath. She was starting to believe that maybe she should have thought more carefully about holding on to that maid's pendant when she preformed her summoning. She had kept the heretical item anyway for any shred of luck it could give her; she supposed it was a fitting punishment that she received an equally heretical familiar. Or was it blasphemous? She could never keep those two straight.

_The important thing is he's still an insolent dog that should be whipped!_ She thought to herself as she put the semantics aside. She had briefly considered going to the Vestai Court to plead with Guiche on his behalf, but decided against it. He thought that he could handle the consequences of insulting a mage? Fine, let him deal with it! Normally she would have been more concerned about her familiar's wellbeing, but what he had said had really gotten under her skin. The idea that mages weren't any better than commoners was just… impossible! Of course the essence of Nobility came from magic! If it wasn't, why had the Founder deemed it so all those millennia ago? If it wasn't, how could society possibly function?

If it wasn't, what had she been fighting to obtain all these years?

Louise had hoped that going for a walk would have helped her calm down a little. It worked somewhat. Right up until she heard the first crash.

Louise jumped out of her own thoughts and nearly out of her own skin when she heard the noise. It was so loud that it had echoed off the Academy walls and back to her again. She looked around in confusion for a moment, unable to pinpoint exactly where it came from. Then she noticed something weird about the central tower, like there seemed to be a piece of rock sticking out from it that did not look to be the same color as the rest of the stone. Then it seemed to shift and move behind the tower.

_What was that? It's almost like there's something there. But that can't be right, at the height I saw it whatever it is would have to be almost a hundred feet tall!_ Nevertheless, Louise started to run, curiosity getting the better of her. About a minute later she found herself standing still at the edge of another courtyard, looking up with wide eyes and her mouth dropped open.

It was a golem made of earth, but on a completely different scale from the ones she had seen tending the farms on her family estate. This thing was half the height of the central tower itself! There was a massive spider web of cracks halfway up the tower, and given how Louise knew that was where the Academy vaults were located, there was little mystery of what it was after. However, at the moment it was not trying to get into the vault; rather, it seemed to be trying to punch and kick a small blur of white that was dancing around it. The mage's shock only increased when she realized it was Georgius.

_W-w-what is that idiot doing?!_ She thought to herself. _He actually does thinks he can take on a mage! He's just – he can't…_ However, her train of thought trailed off the more she watched. As her familiar dodged and continued to try to scale the giant construct, it looked like he was actually holding his own. He wasn't doing any damage of course, but he moved with surprising speed, always managing to keep ahead of the rocks that threatened to crush him.

Louise was snapped out of her daze when she heard a roar from above, and glanced up in time to see Kirche and Tabatha swoop down on the golem on the blue haired girl's dragon. Kirche launched some fire at the head of the thing, which splashed of harmlessly but seemed to distract it. Georgius took this as his cue and once again ran towards the colossus, intent on scaling it.

Louise felt a surge of panic at this. Her familiar had been amazing so far, but she didn't want him to keep pushing his luck. "Familiar! Get back here at once!" She yelled. "I order you to stop being so suicidal!" With that vulgar Germanian overhead, her familiar wouldn't have to put his life on the line to distract the huge thing.

Georgius looked at her in surprise, but unfortunately he was not the only one to notice the pink haired mage. The massive golem turned itself to face her, and she froze in fear as she felt its hollow eyes bore into her. It then took a step towards her, and Louise found that her legs had completely locked up in terror. She heard her familiar yelling to her to run, but all of her focus was on the golem bearing down on her.

A voice came up from the depths of her mind, sounding an awful lot like her mother. _I did not raise some weakling who freezes in battle. Anyone who cannot follow the Rule of Steel is no child of mine_. Louise grit her teeth and shook her head. No! A mage does not give into fear! And a mage will not flee when her familiar stays to fight! She pulled out her wand and began to chant the words for the fireball spell, the syllables flowing out of her rapidly in half-adrenaline, half-panic. It would probably just explode, but given the circumstances, that would probably work too.

However, she realized a problem when the golem drew its fist back to turn her into a stain on the ground: she wasn't going to finish in time.

Time slowed down for Louise as she saw the mass of rock coming towards her. She felt as if trapped in her own body, forced to watch her oncoming death while she tried impotently to finish her spell. Then, as if unaffected by the slowness that had taken the rest of the world, Georgius appeared in her vision, dashing in between herself and the punch, as if it would do any good. His right arm was low and across his body, as him he was preparing to draw a sword. Except, now that Louise looked, there _was_ a sword. It looked almost unreal, as if an image wreathed in golden light, but it was there. It was a simple thing, with a cross shaped hilt and a slightly round section at the tip, but she could tell it was too well made to be a common sword. As the fist neared the pair, Georgius swept his sword arm out to meet it, and Louise swore she could see a glow coming from underneath the gauntlet of his left hand.

Then time sped back up again. There was a ringing of metal followed by a massive crash. Louise was almost thrown off her feet, but was still blinded by a sudden rush of wind and dirt. For a moment she honestly wasn't sure if she was alive or dead, but that cleared up a moment later along with the dirt cloud. She was greeted with the sight of the golem's fist imbedded in the ground several feet to her right. Her familiar still stood before her, his back to her and his sword at his side. The blade shone for a moment longer before it broke apart into tiny golden motes which faded into the air. Georgius looked at his now empty hand, a look of surprise on his face.

It was nothing compare to the shock which Louise now felt. Her familiar, no, this man in front of her had just deflected several tons of solid rock… with nothing but a sword. The silence in the courtyard was deafening. Finally, Louise said what was on everyone's

mind. "What-"

Or she at least tried to, as she then too late remembered that she had been in the middle of casting a spell, and that switching languages mid chant caused it to go off prematurely. Normally while she would have been dishearten by another failure, it was mitigated by two things:

1. All of her spells to date, whether correctly cast or not, have exploded, so it wasn't much of a difference.

2. As luck would have it, the motions of her wand arm had left her pointing directly at the golem's torso.

Her biggest explosion to date ripped through the golem's chest, causing chunks to go flying in all directions. The arms were still barely attached, but the head a most of the upper chest were simply gone. The golem was still for a moment before it fell over on its side, collapsing into a small hill of rubble as it did so.

Georgius spare a glance back at his master. "… I am rather glad that your attempt to silence me did not turn out like that."

Louise ignored his comment and said "What the hell was that?!"

He glanced down at his hands. "I… am not sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?!" she shouted. "You just blocked a small freaking mountain for Founder's sake! Why didn't you tell me you could do that?!"

"Because I did not know I could?"

"Graaaaah!" She shouted. "Stupid familiar! You had me all worked up over fighting Giuche when you could do this the whole time! I… I can't believe…" she trailed off, suddenly swaying on her feet slightly as weariness overtook her.

Naturally, her familiar caught her and set her on the ground. "Master, you should calm yourself. You are likely in shock from almost being killed." He said as he gently sat her on the ground. "Take a moment to rest. You have certainly earned it, seeing as how you stopped the intruder."

Louise rubbed her head. _He's probably right about being in shock. I mean, I only cast one spell, so why else would I feel so tired…_ still she felt a small amount of giddiness. _I stopped the golem with one spell. Better than anything that Germanian hussy could manage._

She glanced up and breathed deeply in satisfaction, but her smile faded slightly upon seeing the tower. _Wait, I thought it was only cracked. When did the hole get there?_

* * *

Inside the tower vault, a large misshapen rock was lying on the floor, having landed there after blasting through the far wall. It was still for a moment before it started to crumble, and soon Fouquet fell out of the pile of dirt which it had become. She clutched at her ribs and coughed, a small amount of blood passing her lips as she did so.

"This…" she moaned out in pain from her injuries. "is… bullshit!"

First there was the soldier who could move like a Triangle -class wind mage and block a stone fist the size of a house, and now there was the student who could make her golem explode with a single spell?! Granted, the thief probably should have considered this possibility given the girl's previous magical inclination, but still! By all reasonable accounts, there was no way she could have predicted this nonsense! She supposed that it just went to show that a person could make the most perfect plan in the world, but it wouldn't account for anything if he tripped on a rock an broke his neck.

Fouquet pulled herself to her feet, rubbing her eyes to clear the dirt out of them so she could see where she landed. She had only the briefest moment of flying through the air to realize what had happened, and in that moment she had instinctively pulled all of the flying detritus around her into a protective cocoon of sorts. It wasn't exactly a smooth ride though, as her current injuries could attest to. It was a good thing her cloak protected her from blunt trauma as well, or she'd be little more than tenderized meat.

She blinked when she noticed that she was indoors, and blinked again when she saw the many rows of shelves with a great number of various objects on them. Once she realized just where she landed, she managed to bark out a laugh before she was forced to grip her ribs again. _This has to be both the luckiest and unluckiest job I've ever pulled_, she thought to herself with grim amusement.

And all things considered, she wanted to quit while she was ahead. Of course she still had to get the thing she was looking for first. Normally she would have raided the vaults for anything valuable she could carry, but this time she was under the employ of someone else. She wasn't supposed to know exactly who she was working for, but well, you do not spend years dealing with the seedy underside of society without picking up a few tricks for finding out who was pulling the strings. And they were a group she did not want to cross for a number of reasons.

Instead, Fouquet merely pocketed a few of the smaller items while she looked for the thing she had been tasked to retrieve. It didn't take long, as there was a case that was put prominently on it's own self, and was clearly labeled as containing the object she was looking for: The Staff of Destruction. Seeing as how it was locked up here, it must have been a truly powerful weapon indeed, though Fouquet wondered why she had never heard of it before this job if that was the case. _Maybe because the name is misleading_, she thought as she eyed the dimensions of the box. _It can only be a few feet long at most. That's hardly a staff._ She picked up the case with a small grunt. _Heavier than you'd think too._

She briefly thought about opening it to take a look, but decided against it. Considering her current run of luck, it was probably booby-trapped with a number of subtle enhancements. She's crack into it later when she had time to check everything over. Right now her concern was simply getting the hell out of the Academy. Normally Fouquet would have ridden out atop her golem, but that had been blown to bits, and making another one would be both tiring and leaving it open to be destroyed by that pink haired brat. She turned and looked at the vault door was a frown, unsure of just how strong it currently was. She probably could have brute forced it open like she did the wall, but that would require another giant golem, which she couldn't make in the vault for obvious reasons. That left her only reasonable exit as the hole which she had just come through. It wouldn't be too much of a problem to get down, but a quick glance from around the edge of the hole showed that there were a number people gathering in the courtyard below.

Fouquet needed a distraction, which meant that she was going back to her preferred approach on jobs. She glanced at the pile of earth that had become of her golem, judging the distance. At this range it would be a strain on her, but she thought she would be able to pull it off. Pointing her wand and focusing deeply, she started to chant.

* * *

Georgius stood by his master's side, glancing around the courtyard for any sign of the mage who had created the massive golem. He was most likely at the bottom of that massive pile of dirt and rocks, but he did not feel like letting his guard down while his master was in her current weakened state. Which he thought was understandable given the surprising amount of force she had brought to bear on the construct and her age, but seeing as how he had only been in this world for a day, he didn't have much of a comparison to draw too. Whoever he had just been fighting had the movements and focus of someone who knew combat, and given the rather impressive size of the golem he reasoned that he had been a fairly powerful mage. For Louise to destroy it in one blow must have taken a lot out of her.

Not for the first time since things had settled down, Georgius glanced down at his hands. His master was not the only one to do something surprising during that battle. When she had been in danger, there had been a number of strange things that had happened with himself. He was not unused to gaining strength when other's needed him most but this was even greater than usual. He thought he had caught a glimpse of the runes on his hand glowing through his gauntlet, so he suspected his contract with his master might have had more enchantments involved than just the geas.

That was not his biggest concern though, as that could have been a perfectly normal part of being a familiar in this world. No, what concerned him was that for but a moment, he had held his old sword again. Ascalon, the magical blade that had been gifted to him by his 'mother'. Did he somehow summon it here for a time, or was it but a seeming? Either way, he had no idea how it happened, or how to make it happen again if needed. It was frustrating just how much of his current condition was a mystery to him, once again finding himself wishing he had paid more attention to the woman who took him in when she tried to teach him how magic worked.

Whatever the case, he would have to do such investigations later. At the moment he had to deal with attention of a dark skinned, redheaded student along with her much shorter blue haired companion. "I say, I should have known there was something special about you as soon as I saw you." The redhead said, eyeing Georgius in a way that made him mildly uncomfortable.

"Strong." The blue haired one said, her own gaze making him uncomfortable for an entirely different reason.

"See? Even Tabitha thinks so. She's actually looking at you while speaking."

Georgius shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. "Thank you, though I was only doing what I must. And you are?"

"Oh, how careless of me," The redhead said before she put her hand on her rather ample chest. "I am Kirche Augusta von Zerbst, pleased to make your very dashing acquaintance."

"Tabitha." The other one said before she stated "You scare Sylphid."

Georgius looked at her confused for a moment before she tilled her head back slightly, and he looked behind her to see her dragon trying to hide behind a tree. 'Trying' was the operative word, as said creature was much wider than the tree in question. When the beast noticed his gaze, it gave a start and crouched down even lower in an attempt to hide. It was more than a little adorable if the man had to admit. Still, he could make a guess as to why a dragon might be wary of him, but he had no idea that they could sense such a thing. He had dismissed the creature as not a threat the other day because it seemed relatively young and docile, but he would have to be sure that his presence didn't agitate it to the point that it would do something aggressive. When Georgius looked back at Tabitha, she was still looking at him with those piercing blue eyes. _She's trying to read me and find out why_, he thought with mild curiosity.

Before he could simply tell her though, Kirche interrupted with "Oh, there'll be time for that nonsense later. Right now we should find some way to… unwind from such a tense and exciting battle." Georgius was both impressed and terrified as just how suggestive she could say the word 'unwind'. Louise could be considered to think similarly if one replaced impressed with indignant and terrified with angry. The low growl that came from her throat made the man wish there was some way out of the current conversation.

"What in the Founder's name happen here?!" Professor yelled out in alarm as came running into the courtyard, a gaggle of students not far behind.

"Oh thank the Lord." Georgius muttered before turning to the approaching professor. "The was an assault on the main tower, professor. A mage riding a massive golem was trying to knock it down, though I am not sure why."

"Vault." Georgius turned back to look at Tabitha, who had now started reading a book. She was pointing a staff she held in her other hand up and towards the tower, and he followed the line up to the newly made hole. Ah, so it was thievery that he was after.

Professor Colbert noticed as well, and began to fret. "Oh dear, why did someone have to do this now? There's no telling what might have been taken-"

"Fear not, for the thief was stopped." The solider interrupted. The confused look on Colbert's face prompted him to continue. "I was able to stall the thief for long enough that my master arrived to see the conflict, at which point she destroyed the construct with an explosive blast. The hole is likely the result of some debris resulting from that."

"But you make your part sound so small," Kirche said, seemingly intent on exalting his own heroism for him. "For one without magic to keep the attention of an experienced mage with a massive golem while being barely injured at all, why, that is the stuff of legend! Or at the very least folk heroes." She then moved a little closer, and her tone dropped a little lower. "And heroes deserve to be rewarded, don't they?"

Once again, Georgius was feeling more than a little uncomfortable at the direction the redhead seemed to be taking things, not in the least part because he was more injured than his appearance might have indicated; he simply bore it well. Thankfully, it was his master that came to his rescue this time. "Zerbst! Keep your amorous hands off my familiar! And don't try to just brush me aside! I actually blew up that damn thing, where you couldn't even leave a scratch!"

Kirche rolled her eyes. "Oh fine, credit where credit is due. You did finally manage to find a use for those explosions of yours. After you were saved from almost getting flattened."

Whatever retort Louise might have had was interrupted by a familiar voice. "What? You can't possibly be saying that the Zero accomplished anything of worth." Heads tuned to see Guiche standing amid the students with a look of distain on his face. "And of course the so called soldier happened to miss our duel."

Georgius stared blankly at the self absorbed adolescent. "I was occupied with more pressing matters." He deadpanned.

"Oh really? And I suppose your so called 'assistance' with this thief would be the cause?" The blonde said as he walked over to the massive pile of dirt. "That is utterly laughable. No doubt you and you poor excuse for a master simple hid while all the real work was done by Tabitha and the lovely Von Zerbst." He embellished that last bit with a flourish of his rose wand towards the woman in question.

Kirche was not impressed however. "Firstly, I do not have such a short memory to forget your rather poor performance between you and those two other girls a few minutes ago. Secondly, I can confirm that while unlikely, Louise did in fact destroy the golem. And Thirdly, the man here had most certainly played a part as well, displaying strength and courage beyond most normal men. More than you'll ever show at the very least."

Guiche's face turned red at the insult, but he managed to keep his composure. He closed his eyes and put a hand on his chest in supposed mock hurt. "Ah, why must the most beautiful of roses have thorns? It simply will not do to have such a woman question the bravery of a Gramont!" He opened his eyes and turned towards Georgius with a small smirk on his face. "I believe I can prove my worth over this failed-"

That was as far as he got before Georgius leaped towards the boy in a motion so fast that Guiche did not even realize that it happened until the man was in front of him with his fist cocked back. Guiche screamed in surprise and threw his arms up to cover his face in reflex. As such, he did not notice how Georgius's punch sailed past him and instead collided with the man-sized rock golem that had risen from the pile of dirt, arm raised intending on crushing the blonde's skull. The golem crumbled under the blow, but there were already more starting to rise from the pile. "If you wish to show it, I would start by protecting the rest of the students." Georgius stated.

As the growing mass of golems advanced, many of the students screamed and began running in several different directions to get away. Unfortunately the golems spread out trying to attack as many as possible, and the terrain was tricky do to the previous fight. Georgius moved as fast as he could, moving himself between a nearby female student and another construct swinging its arm at her. He took the blow in the side with a grunt before his fist lashed out, this one fading to dirt like the previous. It had been good to find out that the resistance he had been building to magic during the years of his last life was still with him in this one, as well as the fact that he could use it offensively against these things.

He was not the only one to go on the attack. A thin bolt of flame impacted and destroyed one not far from him, and Georgius looked over to see the professor expertly dispatching one golem after the other with bursts of fire from his staff. Kirche and Tabitha had joined in as well, the former letting loose slightly less controlled fire spells while the later launched several icicles with each swing of her staff. Even his master attempted to help, exploding a golem that got close to her in spite of her weakened state. In truth, the golems were not that impressive. They were crude, misshapen things that were clearly made with quantity in mind rather than quality. If conditions were ideal, the five of them could probably handle the situation without a problem.

The real complication was the students. The chaos that had resulted from all of the teens trying to run away and the golems pursing after them reminded Georgius of some of the battles he had seen during the Roman campaigns. These were not soldier though; they were merely a lot of frightened youths. The professor was shouting and trying to direct them, but they were far too panicked to hear. Georgius continued to move as fast as he could, diving in the crowded areas which the other mages could not fire safely into to protect whom he could. Still, he could not get to every one, and more than a few lay on the ground injured and in pain. Georgius grit his teeth in frustration as one golem slammed into him to slow him down. _I need that power I had a few minutes ago! What was it?! How do I get it again?!_

Throwing the one on top of him into another one, Georgius spotted Guiche a short distance away trying to defend himself. The boy could apparently make golems of his own, though his were of much better make, looking to be metal suits of armor and armed with weapons. One such armor lay on the ground unmoving, having been overwhelmed by numbers. In it's hand was a spear, and Georgius was in great need of any advantage he could get to protect. He dashed over to it, rolling under a strike and grabbing it as he rose.

As soon as his hand griped the shaft, he felt his body get lighter and stronger, and the glow came from underneath his left gauntlet once more. He paused for a moment in surprise. Georgius did not know why, but it seemed that his pray had been answered. A nearby golem tried to take advantaged of his lapse and lashed out at his head. With speed that surprised even himself, Georgius swept the spear up and bisected the construct diagonally. Wasting no more time on thought, the knight moved even faster than before, ducking an weaving between bodies, his spear lashing out at all who meant harm on the students. The speed and force behind the blows was incredible, and in short order the number of golems had thinned considerably. The efforts of the mages who had chosen to fight managed to keep them from leaving the courtyard after the students who had succeeded in running away. Now the dozen or so that were left had bunched together, and in a final push rushed at Georgius, deeming him the biggest threat.

The group was a short distance away when it made its charge, so Georgius decided to finish it. He pulled his spear arm back before stepping forward with his opposite foot, and with a mighty cry he hurled the spear at the oncoming hoard. The weapon moved so fast that there was a small crack as it moved through the air, and when it struck the lead golem the spear exploded from the sheer force. Its target followed suit, and the concussive blast that resulted ripped out in a wave through the rest of the golems, causing them to be blown apart and crumble to dust.

Georgius was dimly aware that his new strength had left him again, but he had other concerns at the moment. He turned to look at the students who had been injured to see if any were in serious condition. Fortunately while it looked liked no one had been killed, more than a few had broken bones and deep cuts. "Is there anyone here who knows healing magic?" he called out. Rather than getting an answer though, everyone in the courtyard merely started at him with open mouths and wide eyes. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Kirche merely gave him a sly grin. "Oh, they just saw a hero in action. A rather impressive one if I do say so myself."

He was about to respond when he noticed with alarm that his master was unmoving on the ground. "Louise!" He called out as he ran to her side, fear griping him. How had he neglected to protect his master? What if she-

"Passed out." The soldier blinked and looked at Tabitha. She elaborated. "Cast too much."

Georgius knelt down and looked her over, and was relieved to find that she was indeed uninjured. He wished that she had been more mindful of herself while casting, but was proud that his master had been so intent of protecting the rest of the student body.

Motion to his left made him turn, which brought him face to face with a somewhat weary looking Professor Colbert. "Sir Georgius, you have my utmost gratitude for your help in defending my students. I would like to speak to you when possible to be sure that you are rewarded for your efforts."

Georgius shook his head. "Thank you, but I need no reward. Right now we should focus on helping the injured."

Colbert however looked grim. "Yes, but there is a problem. I was not able to stop all of them, and a number of golems slipped away towards the tower. I can't purse because…" he waved around at the injured students lying in the courtyard. "I have sent some of the rest to find more teachers but I don't know how quickly they'll get here."

The professor had left the request unasked, but Georgius heard it all the same. With a nod, he said "You stay here and look after the injured and my master. I will do what I can." With that he turned, but rather than going straight to the tower, he walked over to Guiche, who was looking at him with the same wide eyed amazement as the rest of the students there. "Can you make me another spear?" He asked.

Guiche gave a start at the question, and stuttered "Ah! I-I, uh, y-yes!" He fumbled for his rose and with a swipe a spear rose from the ground before him. It was of better quality than the previous one, and Georgius was pleased to find the runes on his hand light up again as he took hold of it.

Without another word, he ran to the central tower.

* * *

A/N: Oh, good lord this took forever. Sorry about this taking so long, but work has been kicking my ass lately and I'm getting ready to move. This chapter was actually going to be a little longer, but I needed to get it done before I got side tracked. Don't worry, there's a lot more Georgius/Fouquet action to come.

On another note, people have been asking for George's stats. I have said that they're on the wiki, but I will admit that they're a little hard to find, so I'll just post them here.

Alignment: Lawful Good

Strength: D Mana: D

Endurance: A+ Luck: A+

Agility: C++ N. Phantasm: C

Skills

**Magic Resistance** (対魔力, Taimaryoku?): A

In the Servant's era of origin - when Magecraft still retained its ancient strength - countless wielders of the arcane arts attempted to bring him low with their spells, but he managed to emerge unscathed. For his skill in this ability, it would not be an exaggeration to title the Servant a "Magus Killer.".

**Riding** (騎乗, Kijō?): B

Though classed as a Rider, and noted in his heroic legend to defeated a dragon on horseback, the Servant is not exceptionally skilled in mounted maneuverability. He receives a class bonus in this ability as a Servant, but in life, his apparent expertise in riding would be rightfully attributed to the skill of his trusted steed, Bayard.

**Battle Continuation** (戦闘続行, Sentō Zokkō?): A

Beloved by the World, the unyielding force of life within the Servant permits the continuation of combat even in the event of fatal injury. He is further driven by a conscientiousness of the faith and expectations of those he desires to protect. A divine protection from the Earth rooted in the veneration of Georgius as a Patron of Harvest.

**Instinct** (直感, Chokkan?): C

Upon engagement, the Servant is capable of optimizing his position by identifying and exploiting favorable developments. However, the skill cannot be activated except for defensive purposes. The Servant typically uses this ability to vaguely divine the intent of an opponent so as to determine whether engagement is an appropriate course of action, or if the opponent is an "enemy that must be fought."

**Guardian Knight** (守護騎士, Shugo Kishi?): A+

The Servant receives a temporary attribute bonus if acting in the defense of others. A protector of numerous nations and expansive regions in life, the Servant is capable of deriving effectively unlimited defensive capabilities from those who place their faith and expectations in him.

**Soul of a Martyr** (殉教者の魂, Junkyousha no Tamashii?): B+

Nullification of mental interference through firmness of faith. In life, the Servant endured persecution and torture at the hands those who would see him denounce his faith, but never once did he falter in his ministry of Christ.

**Divinity** (神性, Shinsei?): C

As the Servant was revered as a saint in the medieval era, the strength of his nature as a divine spirit is equivalent in rank to the deities of minor cults and the forgotten gods of yore. Incidentally, the name "Georgius" was originally related in sense to the tilling of the earth in ancient farming communities - rooted in the reverence of the Middle Eastern God of Harvest, Ba'al.

George is not a Servant in this fic, but that is still the general spread of his stats. Normally, a human is considered to have a value of 1 for any given stat, and a Servant with an E rank in a stat is considered to have a value of 10, with each one up giving another 10. In George's case, I'm using a factor of 1 instead. i.e. He's about twice as strong as a normal person.


	6. Chapter 6

Georgius had a somewhat uneasy feeling as he cut down another misshapen golem in front of him. Though their number were much fewer than the ones he had just battled in the courtyard, he had still run into a number of them moving through the halls and terrorizing anyone they happened to run into. As of yet, there were still only injuries and not deaths, something he was thankful for, but he couldn't quite place what the constructs were doing. At first he thought that this might have been a sort of death curse the thief had unleashed upon his demise, trying to get vengeance on the one who had slain him, but it didn't added up. Mostly because of how the golems behaved around the servants.

They didn't try to kill them like the rest of the mages they encountered, nor did they simple ignore them. Instead they chased them around much like the others, but never did more than wave their arms menacingly or make overly slow, ineffective swipes. It was like they had been instructed to make a show of it with the serving staff, but not to actually hurt them. He wasn't certain what this said about the thief's character, but he had other concerns at the moment. Namely, that it was more and more looking like that the true purpose of things was to be a distraction.

He ducked forward to avoid a blow from one of the human shaped lumps of rock behind him before he sprung back, spinning so that the back of his fist collided with its 'head'. The blow caused it to crumble like all the others, but there were still two more behind it. These showed a slight bit more intellect than the previous one though, as they did not try to immediately charge him. The hallway they were in was lined with a number of what Georgius had thought were metal statues, but had quickly realized that they were suits of armor when he found that they were hollow. He would have been more interested in their construction if the two remaining golems had not started to launch pieces of them at the solider.

Still, it was not a cause for concern. Georgius swiftly dodged the pieces or swatted them aside with his spear as he closed on the pair. In short order he was within range and a quick thrust destroyed one's torso, and a follow up swipe cut the other in half. He spared another glance around and saw there were no golems left to be found. That left him free to attend to the other important thing in the hallway. He turned at said "Are you alright?"

A butler then crawled out from under the table he had been hiding under. "Yes! Thank you!" He exclaimed. "Don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't come along."

_If I am right, not much_, Georgius thought to himself before saying "Do know if there are any more of those golems around?"

The man shook his head. "I don't think so. I've been trying to get all the other servants to a safe place away from these things, and I ended up drawing these few away from some of the other staff. I haven't heard any more screams or loud noises since then."

Georgius nodded. "Good. See if you can find the others and find a good place to hide." As the other man thanked him again and ran off, the soldier was left to ponder what to do next. He had to operate under the assumption that the mage was still in the academy, mostly as with the alternatives, that the mage was in fact dead or had already escaped, there was nothing he could do. Although if the smaller golems were a distraction, then Georgius did not have long before the thief did make an exit. He could only hope that injures and exhaustion were slowing the other man down.

Georgius needed to think. Just how would this mage escape? It possible that he would simply walk out the front gate amid the chaos that currently reigned over the Academy, but it seemed unlikely. There was a chance that he could be seen, and the thief had already proved that walls were not a hindrance to him. He probably wouldn't be making that giant construct again to make his escape either, as Georgius imagined that he would have done so already if he could have. Still, given that he had shown considerable skill with earth magic, it could not be discounted that the thief would simply try to go under or through the walls. Georgius had no idea if such a thing were possible considering that the walls themselves were likely enchanted in some way, but he did not want to underestimate this man.

So, given all this, it was probable that the thief had created the distraction of the golems and had run to the courtyard on the other side of the main tower to capitalize on it. Georgius couldn't be sure of this of course; it was a conclusion drawn from much guess work based on what he had seen and speculation on just what the mages of this world were capable of. Still, it was the best he had for the moment, and he knew that he didn't have much time if his suspicions were correct. Without another moment's pause, the solider took off for the Vestai Court, the one where that boy had insisted the two of them duel.

It seemed that Georgius would be dueling someone there today. Justice would demand no less.

* * *

Fouquet took deep and steady breaths as she hid in a gardening shack she had found near the Academy wall. For the moment at least, she was safe and allowed to recover somewhat. Making that many golems, crude as they were, ended up being more taxing than she thought, and she only had enough to lower herself down from the tower before she was spent. She didn't dare want to try escaping from the academy without any Willpower, so she had found this place to spare a moment to recover.

Unfortunately, time was against her, as she felt her constructs being destroyed one by one. Fouquet had hoped that they would by her a little more time to recover, but she would have to make do with what she had. The woman estimated that she would be able to cast several dot level spell, and maybe a line or two. That should be enough to dig her way under the main wall and into the woods beyond.

She briefly considered burying the bloody staff and coming back for it later, but she decided against it. She was pretty sure she could make her escapes now, and she wanted this job to be done with as soon as possible. With the case tucked under one of her arms, Fouquet carefully crept out of the shed and trotted the moderate distance to the walls. Once she was close enough, she raise her wand to start burrowing through the earth and-

"It seems that I was right. You are quite skilled." A familiar voice said from behind her.

"Oh come on!" She shouted in frustration before turning around to see that Void damned soldier that was the cause of her current troubles. He stood there holding a spear about 30 feet away. She knew that he could clear the distance before she could create a stable tunnel and close it behind her. She blearily wondered if this man was made simply to make her life harder.

"I shall ask you one last time to stand down." The man said. "If you-"

Fouquet didn't have much Willpower left in her, but a skilled mage could do a lot with a dot spell. Wasting no time, she whipped out her wand arm towards him and turned the ground at his feet into quicksand in an attempt to slow his movements. Unfortunately, it seemed that he had not let his guard down like the last time and jumped as soon as her arm moved, clearing most of the distance between the two of them in a single bound. He almost made it to her, spear first, before she managed with a quick word and gesture to launch a pillar of earth at the man and roll backwards to avoid the attack. The spear was deflected, but the man himself was merely slowed as he crashed through the raised earth.

She then opened a hole unearth him with the intent of trapping him, but as he fell he managed to tilt his spear horizontally, bracing the hole to keep himself from falling in fully. The metal pole creaked as he swung himself back up, launching himself an impressive distance into the air before the hole could close around him. Fouquet then once again found the man coming down directly at her. She swiftly made a half dome of earth to protect her, but she knew that if wouldn't be enough. As she backed away again, she saw that the man had moved in midair such that he was falling both feet first, and he crashed through the barrier like it was made of sand.

"How?" She couldn't help but growl as she kicked up a wave of dust to blind him. "How in the merciless Void can you shrug off magic like water!?"

A quick twirl of the spear cleared the cloud and brought the man into sight again. "My faith in God is a shield to protect me." He said before he launched himself at her again. "Though I will admit, repeated testing of that shield has made it stronger."

She brought up a short wall to defend, but it merely slowed down the sweeping horizontal blow of the spear. Her enchanted robes absorbed most of the force, but she felt her abused ribs crack at the strain. This, as well as his response, wore at her fraying nerves. "Oh please, do you take me for an idiot?" she spat, pushing herself to make another crude golem to place between the two of them. "'God' doesn't favor commoners. He cares too much about his precious mages to give a shit."

Strangely, rather than advancing again, the soldier paused. He remained tense and ready to move at a moment's notice, but he did not advance on her. Instead he merely stood his ground and said "So it is true. I had hoped that Louise was exaggerating."

Fouquet blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"The tenants of God in this land are far different than what they should be." The soldier said, taking slow steps towards her and her golem. "I do not know how it started, but the idea that the Lord would exalt mages over others is both wrong and immoral."

She blinked in surprise before she barked out a laugh of amusement, slowly moving herself and her construct back in kind. "That's a pretty heretical thing to say." She remarked. While part of her was a little intrigued by what he was talking about, she recognized that there was no easy way out of this one. In her tired state, she couldn't help but lose to a man who could resist magic and move and strike faster than a normal human. Still, something about the current subject had piqued his interest, and that gave the woman precious time to come up with something. Her mind raced to come up with something, anything!

She started to slowly circle the man, knowing that she had to keep him talking. She said "I don't know what it's like where you're from, but here magic's all that matters. After all, why shouldn't those who can bend the elements to their will and subjugate the rest rule?"

A small frown crossed the man's lips. "I suppose I could explain it to you, but somehow I don't believe I have to. You say that with such distain that it's clear you don't agree with it either."

Fouquet had to suppress a frown of her own. That was a little more information about herself then she wanted to give. Still, it was hard to keep total control of herself while half of her mind was spinning away to think of an escape. A half formed idea was already coming together in her mind. "Yes, well, I've seen firsthand the 'nobility' of the ruling class. One of the side benefits of my occupation is that I like to think that I'm balancing the scales a bit." Her circular motion around the other man had now left her facing the walls of the academy. With her gaze still on him, she carefully and subtly tucked her wand behind her back, creating yet another golem a short distance out of sight. She lost focus slightly from the strain, but persevered.

His expression grew a bit harder. "I fail to see how stealing something from a school and nearly killing several of its students is ''evening the scales a bit".

"Oh please, it's not like they deserve anything less." She snapped, her temper slipping away from her more. "All that wealth and jewelry and art is just waste in their hands. And those students you are so concerned about will just grow up to become like their bastard parents." Even in the mist of this, she managed to send a command to her last golem to return to the shed which she had been hiding in before.

As she guessed though, the man before her was did not enjoy her logic. "You cannot possibly know that. Besides, your actions will not change anything for the better. You are little more than a rogue working for his own ends."

A small amount of bitterness crept into her heart at that statement. As much as she enjoyed taking from the nobility, it didn't change the fact that he was right. She had never set out with the goal of actually changing things, but to be reminded that her efforts had little weight in the grand scheme things still hurt a little. "Heh, I guess I am a bit of a hypocrite…" she said in a low voice, thinking of how even this job was for some shadowy noble, even if he supposedly aligned with certain… revolutionaries in Albion. Her head perked up as an idea came to her and reached her mouth before she could think about it. "Alright. Why don't you come with me?"

"What?" the man said in surprise, clearly not expecting Fouquet to say that.

_What?_ She thought to herself, having not expected to say that either. It had just kind out popped out. However, a certain giddiness welled up inside of her at the thought, so she kept going. "Yeah, ditch that brat that calls herself your master and join me. Hell, I'll even give up stealing if you want. I don't know just what the hell you are but you're certainly a cut above the normal lapdogs that work for the mages, and you sure don't like the way things are either. There is something happening right now that will shake up the nations. Come on, you and me together, we just might be able to actually change things." The man before her had stared down her massive golem without even blinking. She could see that sheer determination in him even now, the drive to accomplish no matter how daunting the task. It was based on a feeling she had in her gut, but maybe… just maybe they could actually change the world.

The solider paused for several moments, never looking away from her, but it was clear that he was processing her invitation. However, eventually his face fell a little bit and he said "An interesting proposal, but I cannot accept. I have already pledged my service to Lady Françoise till she releases me, and I will not break my oath. Besides, I don't believe that the mages of this land are as irredeemable as you seem to think." His expression softened a bit. "Although, you are correct that I take umbrage with certain parts of this land. Perhaps if you came with me instead…"

Fouquet was about to argue with how he couldn't be so lenient and passive on the matter before she caught herself. _What the hell am I doing?,_ she thought to herself, the brief sway of her body reminding her just how light headed she was getting. _The Willpower Depletion is making me delirious. Why in the merciless Void would I ever think that just two people could change things?_ She gave a sigh and shook her head, before retuning an irritated glare at the man in front of her. It was just as well he turned her down, but now she felt a small amount of anger at him, separate from the trouble he had already given her. She wasn't quite sure why, but she pushed it aside and said "And let myself get thrown into prison? I think not. It's a pity. We could have been something grand. I suppose I'll have to use my back up plan then."

The soldier could tell from the finality in her tone that the conversation was over. There was a long moment of silence between the two where neither of them moved. It was ended with a sudden burst forward from the soldier and Fouquet raising her wand arm from behind her back. The man was able to slice apart the golem separating the two of them in an instant, but she was not far behind in casting her spell. Rather than spears or walls of rock coming into existence, she simply had the broken construct of rock explode into a large cloud of magnesium dust.

Magnesium in itself was a highly reactive metal, burning very brightly if lit. However, she had learned though conversations with farming peasants that there were such things as dust explosions; a spark among a dry grain silo could cause the entire thing to explode in an instant. Such a thing was possible with any combustible particulate.

And judging by a brief glance at the other man's face as she cast a spark from her wand, he knew it too.

The explosion wasn't terribly big, but not only was the man in the center of it, it was also extremely bright and loud. Fouquet was on the edge of the blast and jumped away from it, but she was hardly unscathed. Her cloak had been put through so much that day that even with its protections it became shredded and burned, and the woman herself became a little disoriented. However, there was no time for that. She knew full well that this would only slow the man down a bit.

Fouquet somehow managed to pick herself up and stumble/run towards the shed where she had sent her last golem, case still tucked under her arm. As she burst into the structure, she tore off the remains of her cloak, revealing her disheveled secretary outfit underneath, and cast both it and the case to the side. Calling up the last dregs of her Willpower, she tore a sizable hole in the earth beneath them, not bothering to make it structurally sound. Naturally it collapsed in on itself. She fumbled for a handkerchief in her pocket and gaged herself with it. He vision started to blur, and so she more or less tossed herself at her golem, it catching her and holding the woman in such a manner that it looked like it could crush her at any moment.

Her plan was quite simply to make it look like the 'thief' had kidnaped the poor secretary as a backup plan. While the soldier was distracted with her as a hostage, it became reasonable that the thief had escaped by digging a tunnel and collapsing it behind him, albeit father from the wall which he had originally intended.

It was not the best if plan. In fact, if the woman was pressed she would admit that it wasn't even a good plan. Anyone with sense would at least try digging up the ground where she had clearly 'escaped' to find clues, and as such the Staff of Destruction would be out of her grasp. Furthermore, a clever or suspicious man could likely figure out she had something to do this all this if they stopped to truly analyze the situation. Still, it was the fastest plan she could come up with in her exhausted state, so she would just have to hope that no one was feeling particularly bright for the next few hours.

The world started to drift away from her as she finally let herself succumb to Willpower Depletion (hopefully it would help sell the bit that she had been accosted), though she was vaguely aware of the door slamming open and that man standing there. A whisper of a laugh came to her lip as she thought about if he had actually said yes to her inane proposal, the two of them traveling the world and booting the nobles out of their mansions and castles and onto the streets where they belonged. It was a childish fantasy at best, though she didn't know why she felt that flash of anger when he turned her down.

A final treasonous thought crossed her mind before the blackness took her. _Maybe it was because, for the first time in a long while, he let you feel hope._

* * *

Jean gave a weary sigh as he laid down the last student into the set of rows they had made on the grass. There was a good two dozen or so who had been injured and rendered immobile, thus necessitating that the Academy nurses come out and preform triage right in the courtyard. Thank the Founder, none of the injuries were immediately life threatening, but if not treated correctly and soon some would develop infections or have bones set improperly. The man himself was of some assistance, having knowledge of basic aid to treat the smaller wounds, but the real work was done by the healers.

For not the first time, the professor felt displeasure at his element. True, fire had been useful in coming to the defense of the students, but unlike the other elements it's applications outside of combat were limited. He had been making strides ever since he had become a teacher to find other uses for the element, though his successes were small. Regardless, for the time being he would have to simply do what he could.

"I need some more bandages here!" he called out, tending to a rather nasty cut on a female student's leg. A short while later a servant with short black hair came to him, her arms laden with various supplies. "Thank you my dear." He said as he took what he needed from her.

However, rather than leaving the maid stayed for a moment. "Pardon my intrusion sir, but are you sure that we are safe? I heard from some of the other servants that more of those things were seen wandering through the academy."

He looked up at her worried expression and tried to put on a calming smile. "Please don't worry. One of the student's familiars has gone to dispatch any others that may have gotten away. And rest assured, I have full confidence in his ability to do so."

"His?" She said in confusion for a moment before her eyes widened. "You mean Sir Georgius?" she blurted out.

Jean blinked as he looked at her. "Oh, so you know him?"

A light blush crossed her face. "W-we are acquainted. And not that I don't have faith in the man, but how are you sure?"

Jean gave a small chuckle and swept out his hand. "Well, aside from saving the many of the lives you see here, I was told that he faced down a golem half the size of the tower and lived."

The maid looked awed by this fact, but before she could say anything, a familiar voice said "We can talk about such things later."

The two of them turned to find the knight in question walking towards them, though he had traded his spear for a figure cradled in his arms. Jean bolted to his feet in alarm when he saw who it was. "Longueville!" he cried as he moved towards the other man. "Is she…?"

"Worse for wear, but she will live." Georgius said. "It… seems that the thief had taken her hostage in case things went wrong. He threatened her to gain time for his own escape."

Twin emotions of guilt and anger welled up inside the professor. Guilt for failing to uphold his promise to the woman to protect her… and anger at the man who would do such a thing to her. "Am I to assume that the thief is in fact alive and has escaped?" He said, his tone staying on just this side of dangerous.

For whatever reason, Georgius paused, a small frown crossing his face as his eyes flickered down to the woman in his arms. After a moment he said "So it would seem. However, perhaps it would be best if we checked the area in which he made his escape."

Jean nodded. "It might be possible to find clues as to which way he went."

"Something like that." Georgius muttered under his breath as he put the woman down at the end of the row. He then looked back at the professor. "Tell me, what will be the fate of the thief if he is caught?"

"I cannot be sure, but if he is who I think he is, then I imagine that he will be thrown into a dungeon to rot for the rest of his life." Jean said coldly.

The soldier's brow furrowed somewhat at this, but he said nothing. Eventually, he turned to the maid and said "Siesta, could you please take me to my master. It would be remiss if I was not present when she awoke."

"Of course, Sir Knight." She said as she turned.

Even as the two walked away, he could hear the man say "I told you to call me Georgius."

"When you defend a castle from an assault, you should be referred to by title." The woman replied primly.

Jean arched an eyebrow at this. He had not known that the man was a knight, be he could hardly say that it was surprising. Still he had other things he had to think about. This attack on the Academy would no doubt send ripples throughout the country. Sure, it was in fact a heist by a very powerful mage, but he doubted that many of the noble families that sent their children here would remember that fact. They would wonder if their children were actually safe within the walls, there would be inquiries as to the staff's competence, which was to say nothing on what if anything the thief actually took. Needless to say, the princess's visit in a few weeks would probably be canceled.

Above all else though, this event only deepened the mystery of a certain soldier and his pink haired master.

* * *

_Louise knew that she was dreaming. She was not surprised at all by this, as the last thing she remembered was casting a fireball/explosion at a golem before things went black. She did feel a little put off though. She had never once felt tired from casting too much (the fact that all the spells cast previously were miscasts had no bearing on this), and now she had suffered from Willpower Depletion twice in just as many days. Not only that, that stupid Germanian floozy was probably making fun of her right now and she couldn't do anything about it._

_One might have questioned the young noble's priorities considering that she had been in the midst of a battle when she had lost consciousness, but oddly the girl was not overly concerned about such things. She had just seen her familiar turn aside a golem half the height of the main tower; he could most assuredly protect her from this rabble. She would have to deal with her sudden and newfound respect for the man she had summoned when she woke up. But at the moment she had to deal with the strange dream she was having._

_It was a montage of images and scenes at first, all taking place in a city she did not recognize. The architecture was elegant, with columns and arches and buildings of stone, but also somewhat simple in a way. It reminded her somewhat of early cities created by man shortly after the days of Brimir. The scenes also seemed to be focused on a young boy, who grew up in a large house with his parents and servants. It was hard to make out anything other than small details, but it was clear that the boy's life was a happy one._

_Then it shifted. The dream became more concrete, and now she saw the boy sitting before his father, the man's expression serious._

"_Son," he said. "Whatever your life may have in store for you, whatever dark path you may find yourself on, you must never forget your faith." The man held out his hand, and Louise was surprised to see a metal pendant in the same shape as the one the maid had, though of better quality. "Remember, God is always with you. He loves you always, just as he loves all of his children."_

_Before Louise could ponder this, the dream shifted again. The family was now in a forest on an outing, laughing and being merry. The boy trotted off to chase a rabbit. Suddenly, there was fire. It came from everywhere, surrounding the boy and getting closer. He screamed and ran, ran as fast as he could from the flames until he found himself alone among the ash. He cried and shouted for his mother and father, but he couldn't find them. _

_Just when the boy thought hope was lost, there was a woman standing before him, in dark robes and with long red hair. He asked her where his parents were, and she replied with sorrowful words that that had been taken by the flames. The boy cried harder then, and was in no state to resist when the woman bent down to hug him. Her words were like honey, but Louise could see a dark gleam in her eye._

"_Don't worry. I'll take care of you from now on."_

* * *

A/N: There was some confusion as to what exactly powers George's magic resistance last time so I hope this clarifies it a bit. His faith is why he has it to begin with, but it's all the experience he has having magic cast at him which makes it so good.

I was arguing with myself for a while whether or not I would add the dream cycle to this fic. It's really the Grail System that did that, so it technically wouldn't happen here. However, I realized that there is a lot of untapped potential in George's past that would normally never come up or be given proper explanation in story, so I decided to do it anyway. I have a few interesting ideas on that front.

On another note, I will probably be focusing on _Soul_ and _Birth_ in the immediate future. It's been about half a year since I started to bounce around with fics, and while it's been fun, I want to bring all of my attention back to a single story (or in this case, two fics that share a story).

Also, someone gave me a rec on TVTropes! Thanks!

Till next time.


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